Rosholt repeats at Women's Southern Am; Hiestand top mid-am

Calynne Rosholt defended her title at the Women’s Southern Amateur on Friday, which is an exceptionally hard thing to do in a match-play style event. Rosholt took the No. 4 spot on the match-play bracket, and played her way to the title from there. She won five matches over the course of the week at Lockwood Folly Golf Club in Holden Beach, N.C.

Rosholt is a 16-year-old from Cedar Park, Texas. Since winning last year’s Women’s Southern Am, she has played a schedule heavy in AJGA events. She won the Hunter Mahan Junior Championship earlier this year.

Rosholt had to defeat Hannah Berman in the championship match. Earlier this week, Berman took down perhaps the most seasoned player in the championship division, former U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Lauren Greenlief. Rosholt only needed 14 holes to accomplish that.

After taking down Greenlief in the quarterfinals, Berman had defeated Emma Whitaker, a rising junior at Oklahoma State, in the semifinals.

Rosholt’s path to the final also included a win over recent Georgia Women’s Match Play winner Megan Schofill, Old Miss rising junior Kennedy Swann, incoming Mississippi State freshman Abbey Daniel Texas A&M rising junior Elizabeth Caldarelli.

In the mid-amateur division, Mary Jane Hiestand took down Lucy Nunn in the final match, 2 and 1.

The Women’s Southern Am is Hiestand’s first victory since winning the Florida Women’s Senior Open last fall. The Naples, Fla., native also played her way to the third round at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur last year in her home state.

Hiestand had a tough semifinal match against Susan West, one of the top senior amateurs in Alabama, and eventually won, 2 up. In the round before that, Hiestand had beaten Carolyn Creekmore in just 13 holes.

Lucy Nunn played her way into the final from the No. 2 seed on the bracket. Nunn is the head women’s golf coach at Southern Mississippi.