Former Red Wing Teammates Herzog and Yoemans Together Again, Shoot 67 to Lead MGA Women's Four-Ball

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
  NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In 2019, Leah Herzog and Sophia Yoemans put together the two best individual seasons in the history of girls’ high school golf in Minnesota, leading Red Wing High School to the program’s sixth state championship along the way.
 
Teaming up for the first time at Sunday’s opening round of the 2021 Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Northfield Golf Club, Herzog and Yoemans combined for a 5-under 67 to put themselves in position to claim a second state championship together.
 
“I think Leah carried us today—she was draining putts,” Yoemans said Sunday.
 
“I made a couple bombs, but I thought we had a good thing going with our strategy,” Herzog added. “If Sophia had a putt for birdie and I had a putt for par, I would putt-out and she could go for it and it worked to our advantage.”
 
Herzog’s hot putter got to work on the second hole Sunday, sinking a 50-footer for birdie before Yoemans reached the par-5 third hole in two, two-putting for birdie to put the twosome at 2-under.
 
After carding a bogey at the fifth, Herzog answered by hitting her tee shot to a foot at the par-3 seventh, tapping in for birdie and would then roll in her birdie look from 15 feet at the ninth to put her team at 3-under at the turn.
 
Hitting her approach inside of six feet at the 13^th, Herzog again converted her birdie chance and would finish the scoring when her birdie putt from 40 feet at the 14^th bounced off the back edge of the cup and in for birdie.
 
“I like these greens. I felt like I could read them pretty well and figure out the speeds. That was definitely a difference-maker,” Herzog said Sunday.
 
With an opening-round 67, Herzog and Yoemans will take a one-stroke lead over two-time champions Taylor Ledwein and Megan Welch to Monday’s final round.
 
Herzog and Yoemans played together at the MGA/PGA Cup Matches at Edinburgh USA in May, helping the amateurs from the MGA to an 11-point victory over the professionals from the Minnesota Section.
 
“This course is a lot harder than when we played together at [MGA/PGA Cup Matches], a lot of woods and irons off the tee,” said Yoemans, who is coming off a win at the MGA Women's Amateur Championship Wednesday.
 
“There are a couple holes on the back nine where you have to play some target golf and place shots. You can’t really mess up those,” Herzog said. “We haven’t played here in a while, so we had to guess a little bit.”
 
A steady start to the round to open the championship Sunday, Ledwein and Welch were unable to get any birdie putts to drop on their front nine, turning in even par with nine consecutive pars before carding birdies at the 10^th and 12^th holes to quickly move to 2-under.
 
Pouring in back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th, Ledwein helped put her team within striking distance by carding bogey-free 4-under 68.
 
Former teammates at Bradley University, Ledwein and Welch teamed up to win their first championship together in 2018 at Crow River Country Club and began the final round of last year’s championship two shots off the lead before carding a final-round 67 to win their second title in three seasons.
 
The twosome of Jordan Amelon and Alyssa Akiyama posted a score of 1-under 71 Sunday and will begin the second round in third place, four shots off the lead. The team of Camille Kuznik and Aayushi Sarkar finished the opening round with an even par 72 and sit in a tie for fourth place with Brenda and Steffi Williams.
 
Staci Smoot and Cate Grinney combined to card an even par 72 Sunday and will take a one-stroke lead over the pairing of Bernie Brown and Ellie Layton to Monday’s final round in the First Flight.
 
In the Second Flight, Wendy Benson and Linda Goodno finished the first round of play on top of the leaderboard by carding a 3-over 75. The twosome will take a one-stroke advantage over the team of Christina Payton and Sheryl Raithel when the tournament resumes Monday.
 
Denise Cosgrove and Nikki Heilskov jumped out to a big lead following Sunday’s first round, shooting an 8-over 80 to lead by six shots over Marion Holly and Fran Page in the Third Flight.
 
The final round of the 2021 MGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. at Northfield Golf Club.