Serena Shah Wins Women’s Stroke Play Championship
Briefly: Serena Shah of Carrollton won the Women’s Stroke Play Championship after a final round 5-over-par 77 at Crown Colony Country Club. The Southern Methodist University junior finished at 8-over overall and one stroke better than the field. Nancy Beck of Dallas and Olive Henry of Ennis are co-champions for the First Flight, winning the flight by four strokes. Beck carded a 12-over 84 and Henry carded a 15-over 87 in the final round. Xuesong Hollier of Tomball won the Second Flight by nine strokes after rounds of 94-93-87.
Leaderboard:
1) Serena Shah Carrollton 76-71-77 | 224
2) Zoe Paige Slaughter Houston 75-77-73 | 225
3) Jennie Park Carrollton 76-74-77 | 227
4) Nicole Vivier Austin 76-76-78 | 230
5) Brooke Nolte Melissa 80-74-77 | 231
T6) Amelia McKee Spring 77-78-77 | 232
T6) Madison Freeman Spring 76-80-76 | 232
T6) Hailey Jones Dallas 75-79-78 | 232
Golf Course: Nestled in the tall pines of East Texas, Crown Colony Country Club originally opened for play in 1979. The beautiful and challenging layout located in Lufkin is a Robert von Hagge and Bruce Devlin design that has been rated by Golfweek as one of the top destination golf courses in Texas. The 18-hole championship golf course has played host to eight TGA Major Championships (the 1982 and 1988 Texas Amateur, 1989 and 2007 Women’s Texas Amateur, 1994 Texas Mid-Amateur, 1983 Texas Senior Amateur and the 2012 and 2017 Texas Four-Ball). Now, it adds the Women’s Stroke Play Championship to its decorated history. The Final Round was contested at 6,052 yards for the Championship Division.
Weather: The temperature reached 89 degrees with steady winds at 5 mph out of the northwest.
Winner’s Info: Shah fired a 5-over 77 in the final round to post 8-over for the championship and win by one stroke. The Southern Methodist University junior remained near the top of the leaderboard throughout the entirety of the championship and found the number one spot late in the second round. Although Zoe Paige Slaughter gave it a good run carding a 1-over-par 72 in her final round, Shah maintained her composure and stuck to her game plan of keeping it simple. This is Shah’s first Women’s Stroke Play Championship win.
“This is a really tough course and it’s tight off the fairway, so just going in with the same mentality I did from the practice round to the first round to the second round was just to keep things simple,” Shah said. “Hit the fairway, hit the green and two putt from there.”
Shah completed the last four holes of her second round on Saturday morning. Not too long after that, she kicked off her Final Round at 10:24 a.m. She carded a 2-over 38 on the front nine and started off with three bogeys at the turn. Although the back side didn’t start as planned, she finished her round strong with birdie-par-par.
“Everything was going pretty well on the front nine and then on the back nine I had a little trouble,” Shah said. “I had a couple bogeys on 10, 11 and 12 and then I think the real turning point was on 16 where I had a birdie putt that I made from 8 feet and that just kind of helped with my momentum going into the last 2 holes. I think that really helped just finish off the last three holes in a good style.”
In Contention: Zoe Paige Slaughter of Houston posted a 9-over 224 for the championship and finished solo second. Jennie Park of Carrollton finished at 11-over to take third. Nicole Vivier of Austin carded a 14-over 230 to take fourth. Brooke Nolte finished at 15-over 231 to take solo fifth. Three players in the Championship Division tied sixth at 16-over 232.
What’s Next: The 2020 season continues with the Women’s Four-Ball at Midland Country Club in Midland August 10-11. You can view the entire Texas Golf Association calendar here.
More Info: The Texas Golf Association extends its sincere appreciation to the staff and members of Crown Colony Country Club as well as our volunteers for their integral part in making the Women’s Stroke Play Championship a memorable and successful event. For more information on the Women’s Stroke Play Championship, click here.