Ashely Menne of Arizona State was four back at 8-under 202 while Kaleiya Romero of Pepperdine, who held a share of the lead after each of the first two rounds, slipped back into a tie for 17th at 3-under 207 following a disappointing final round of 75.
"Being the first winner of any event is pretty special," said Plata. "My mom is with me this week and she hasn't watched me play in a long time so getting this win in front of her was pretty exciting."
Plata, last year's Big 10 Player of the Year at Michigan State, didn't exactly get off to a dream start on Friday, making a double bogey on the par-5 third, a hole she had birdied the previous two days.Valery Plata is the inaugural Women's Division Champion🏆#PatriotGolfAZ pic.twitter.com/V1aNNFzkTf
— Patriot All-America Invitational Golf Tournament (@ThePatriotAllAm) January 1, 2022
She shook off the cobwebs with birdies on holes 5 and 7 to get back to even for the day and made a clutch par save on the ninth which kept her at 8-under for the tournament.
While Shepherd couldn't get anything going with her putter, Plata hit the accelerator and birdied four of the last five holes for a closing 66 en route to the title.
"It was a hard day at the beginning but I'm happy things worked out the way they did," said Plata. "I wasn't hitting it all that great today but I hit some pretty good approach shots and got my putter going a bit."
Plata also made history in November when she won the inaugural Women's Amateur Latin America Championship at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
