Meghan Stasi named SGA Nat'l Amateur of the Month

BIRMINGHAM, AL – As a result of winning the USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship for a record fourth time, Floridian Meghan Stasi, 34, has been named National Amateur of the Month for October by the Southern Golf Association. Stasi, a resident of Oakland Park, FL, won the Women’s Mid-Am title by drubbing Arizona’s Liz Waynick, 6-and-5, which ties the largest final-match victory margin in the history of the tournament.

Stasi is now one of just 16 persons to win a USGA championship four times, a list that includes icons Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.

Nursing a one-up lead through seven holes, Stasi won the next five holes to close out the final match, including four straight birdies in that 5-hole stretch at Briggs Ranch GC, San Antonio, Tex.

2012 SGA Am of the Month Winners March: J.J. Spaun, San Diego State | More April: Justin Thomas, Alabama | More May: Justin Thomas, Alabama | More June: Peter Williamson, Southern Am Champ | More August: Steven Fox, U.S. Amateur Champ | More September: Nathan Smith, U.S. Mid-Am | More October: Meghan Stasi, U.S. Women's Mid-Am | More

She was on the rope earlier in the second round, down 5 holes with 6 to play. She rallied with an eagle/eagle/birdie/birdie run and forced a playoff that she won to advance to the next round.

Stasi becomes just the second female to win the 10-year-old SGA award, which is typically dominated by collegiate male golf stars. The previous female to win the award was former teen amateur sensation Michelle Wie.

The national blue-chip panel selected Stasi over Alabama All-American Justin Thomas, who in October won the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and followed that the next week with a second in the Isleworth Collegiate – both against fields containing many of the top-ranked amateurs. By finishing second to Stasi in panel voting, Thomas earns honorable mention for October.

Winners of the SGA’s March-through-October award are determined by a panel of elite golf officials, coaches and journalists. Earlier winners this year include J.J. Spaun of San Diego State; Alabama all-Americans Thomas and Bobby Wyatt; Southern Amateur champ Peter Williamson from New Hampshire; U.S. Amateur champ Steven Fox; and USGA Mid-Am champ Nathan Smith, a Pittsburgh financial planner.

The SGA supports amateur golf at the highest level, including staging of the storied Southern Amateur, which will be played for the 107th time next July at The Club at Carlton Woods outside Houston.