Aldrich and Miller Outduel Pilot and Williams in Playoff to Win MGA Women's Senior Four-Ball

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
  FOREST LAKE, Minn. – Outlasting three-time champions Claudia Pilot and Brenda Williams in a four-hole playoff Tuesday, the team of Betsy Aldrich and Barbara Miller claimed the 2020 Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Forest Hills Golf Club.
 
Aldrich and Miller carded an opening round 74 to enter Tuesday’s final 18 holes one shot off the lead before carding a 73 to finish in a tie for first with Pilot and Williams at 1-over 147. On the fourth playoff hole, Miller two-putted for par to earn her second win at the event in as many seasons.
 
“We’ve wanted to play together and we’ve tried, but we’ve always had other partners,” Miller said after Tuesday’s round. "This was the first time we’ve been partners and it worked out. We knew our games were similar and knew how to feed off of each other.”
 
Miller paired up with Leigh Klasse a year ago as the two staged a final-round comeback, shooting 6-under 66 to edge Pilot and Williams by two shots, giving Miller her first state title.
 
Aldrich, who entered the week coming off a runner-up finish at the MGA Women’s Senior Amateur Championship at Woodhill Country Club a week ago, claims her first senior four-ball championship and notches her 13^th victory in the state.
 
With her win Tuesday, Aldrich clinches 2020 MGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year honors, ending Leigh Klasse’s run of 10 straight awards.
 
“This is an important win for me this year because I want to win [MGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year], so this is a big one,” Aldrich said.
 
During the final round Tuesday, Aldrich got to work quickly by two-putting for birdie on the opening hole to move to even par for the championship before Aldrich rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the fourth, putting her team in sole possession of the lead. Carding bogey at the eighth and ninth holes for the second consecutive day, Aldrich and Miller dropped back to 1-over and into third place.
 
Miller helped the cause by dropping a 35-footer from off the edge of the 11^th green to move her and Aldrich back to even par and within one shot of the lead.
 
Despite a birdie and one bogey on the scorecard over the final nine holes Tuesday, Aldrich and Miller left themselves with plenty of work, needing lengthy putts to save par and remain in contention. They would bogey the final hole to finish 36-holes at 1-over 147 before watching Pilot’s 12-foot par putt for the win stay right of the cup.
  
The two teams each carded three consecutive pars at the par-4 18^th hole before moving to the par-3 10^th, where Miller would two-putt for par and the win after Pilot and Williams each failed to get up-and-down to save par.
 
“We started out great, but the card doesn’t show pictures because we were ham and egging it for par,” Aldrich said Tuesday. “We limped our way in. We didn’t have any big numbers and it wasn’t spectacular, but it was steady.”
 
“We never had a tap-in par from [No. 11] on in,” Miller added. “We had to make six and 7-footers to save par.”
 
With their most recent win at the event coming in 2014, Pilot and Williams narrowly missed their fourth tournament win Tuesday. The two first teamed up in 2010 to win the championship at Ridgeview Country Club and added a second in 2012 at Red Wing Golf Club.
 
“I haven’t been playing very much tournament golf this year and I’m really not used to it,” Pilot said Tuesday. “It was a great start, but we bogeyed the next two holes, so it was like starting par-par-par.”
 
Williams chipped in for eagle on the opening hole to put her and Pilot into the lead momentarily before falling back to 1-over after three holes Tuesday. Williams came back to roll in a short birdie putt at the eighth to put her team back into a share of the lead.
 
The two regained the outright lead when Williams sank an uphill birdie putt from 10-feet at the 14^th, but Pilot and Williams dropped back into a tie with Aldrich and Miller with a bogey at the 15^th. Needing a par on the final hole after a bogey by Aldrich and Miller, Pilot had a par putt to win but couldn’t get it to drop, forcing a playoff after shooting 1-over 147.
 
“What I was happy with, after those first four holes, I finally started hitting the ball better,” Pilot said. “Fairways and more and more greens and taking some of the pressure off of Brenda. Yesterday, she had so much pressure on her. But it’s always fun to play with your best friend.”
 
“The four-ball is one of my favorite events to play in because of Claudia, of course. It’s more fun to play in these events with the yardage being more manageable,” Williams said. “When you’re ham and egging it as well as we were today, that’s always fun.”
 
First-round leaders Lisa Lawry and Trish Olsen fired a final-round 75 Tuesday to finish one shot back in third place at 2-over 148.
 
Kari Haug and Terry Henschel carded a 4-over 77 during Tuesday’s final round to claim a two-stroke victory in the First Flight at 7-over 153, edging the twosome of Molly Baker and Colleen Boerboom. Maren Ogdie and Sue Sajevic built a two-stroke lead following Monday’s opening round and held off the team of Kathy Fisher and Dale Ann Smith to earn a two-stroke victory in the Second Flight, shooting 20-over 166.
 
In the Third Flight, Marion Holly and Fran Page carded a 14-over 87 Tuesday to better the teams of Janice Barstad and Toni Flaherty and Jill Garritsen and Connie Sugden by three strokes as Holly and Page tallied a 36-hole score of 23-over 169.
 
Pat Bush and Renee Christensen opened up the championship Monday with a three-stroke lead by carding a 90 before firing a final-round 91 Tuesday to claim a two-stroke victory in the Fourth Flight, downing the team of Ann Harris and Jacqui Jarnes and the pairing of Monica Overkamp and Emi Sako. Back-to-back rounds of 94 helped the twosome of Janet Christianson and Julie Edwards to a slim victory in the Fifth Flight, edging the team of Terry Fraser and Sheila Mullen by one stroke at 42-over 188.
 
The 2021 MGA Women’s Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship returns to Burl Oaks Golf Club, which played host to the event in 2019.