Indiana Women's Open: The sizzling summer of Samantha Brown continues

For most teenagers, summer is the time to lay by the pool and soak up the sun before returning to school in August. The rising senior from Westfield, Ind. and Purdue Golf commit, Samantha Brown, has had a different definition of a scorching summer.

Brown finished tied for second with incoming Iowa sophomore, Madi Dabagia, after shooting a two day total of 1 under at the Indiana Women’s Open.

Coming into the second round just two back of the leader, Brown got off to a hot start, birdieing Nos. 1, 5, and 7 to tie the leader going into eighth hole.

After a few miscues, unlucky bounces, and close calls on putts, she played the next holes 6 over par. Brown kept her composure and finished the last five holes at 1 under, securing her second place finish.

“After my double on No. 8, I knew I needed to continue playing golf and continue to keep hitting fairways and greens,” Brown said “Eventually some putts will start to fall when you do those things.”

The Kokomo Country Club layout is a short but very narrow golf course where tall trees line just a few yards off of almost every fairway.

“It’s definitely target golf out here,” Brown said about the course. “ I had to hit some woods off of the tees to place it in the right spot to give myself a shot into the greens.”

Samantha Brown (Twitter)

No matter what course Brown has played on, she always seems to gameplan correctly and hit the shots needed for the situation.

This summer alone Brown has accomplished many feats.

June 5-6th, Brown placed T3 at the prestigious Pete & Alice Dye Junior Invitational, featuring national elite junior players.

Then not even a day later, she began dominating the field at the Indiana Junior PGA Championship, winning by a whopping nine strokes finishing with a two-day total of 6 under par at Purdue University’s Ackerman-Allen Course. This has also qualified her for the Junior PGA Championship in Hot Spring, Ark.

Brown is also sitting on the first alternate spot for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship in USAFA, Colo., after shooting a 2-under 70 at the Rock Hollow Golf Club Qualifier.

With plenty of golf left before she returns to school in a month, Brown is still focused on playing high level golf and continuing her great summer stretch.

“A lot of it is mental,” Brown said “Just knowing that you belong in the tournaments that you’re playing in, because I know I can hit the shots out there, but you just have to make sure you stay in it the whole time, even if you hit bad shots because you never know what could happen.”

Brown’s game and mindset seem to be coming into form to keep playing elite golf through the summer and many years to come.