“This feels real good,” said Shockley, who shot a 5-over-par 77 Monday. “I’ve worked hard on my game and pushed myself more than I ever have.”
Joining Shockley in advancing to the U.S. Women’s Amateur from Monday’s qualifying were Australian Stacey Keating, who earned medalist honors with an even-par round of 72, Nicole Ferrero of Lodi, Calif. (76) and Rebecca Lederhausen of Hinsdale, Ill. (77).
Shockley and Lederhausen, a sophomore-to-be for the Northwestern women’s golf team, emerged from a five-player playoff to secure the final two qualifying spots. Shockley parred the second playoff hole to advance, and Lederhausen needed six extra holes to outlast junior player Elizabeth Wells of El Dorado, Ariz.
Coloradans Ashley Tait and Bethany Buchner also shot 77 to earn a spot in the playoff, but Buchner bowed out with a double bogey on the second playoff hole, and Tait exited after a three-putt bogey on the third extra hole.
Shockley and her DU teammates are riding a high from this past season. The Pioneers finished sixth as a team at the NCAA Championships, by far their best performance at the national tournament. Individually, Shockley placed 41st in the field.
The 21-year-old from Estes Park was an outstanding distance runner and basketball player in high school, winning the 3A state cross country title as a freshman and being named Miss 3A Basketball as a senior. As for golf, she’s previously qualified for two U.S. Golf Association championships. She competed in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, but had to take a pass on the U.S. Women’s Publinks last year because she was attending summer school.
Shockley, who owned the third-best scoring average for DU last season, ranks her experience at the NCAA tournament among her most important in golf, but says going to the U.S. Women’s Amateur “is definitely right up there. Some of the best players in the world will be there. When you’re playing on a national stage, they’re all big.”
Shockley plans to qualify for match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur -- no ifs, ands or buts about it.
“I’m going to make the cut, then set some new goals,” she said.
All of Monday’s qualifiers are college-age or younger. Keating is 22, Shockley 21, and Ferrero and Lederhausen both 19.
Keating, who lives near Melbourne, is in the U.S. for the first time, in the midst of a two-month stay in which she and traveling companions will compete in various tournaments, including this week‘s Colorado Women‘s Amateur in Keating‘s case. She won the Victorian Amateur last year and was runner-up in the Australian Women’s Amateur this year, and tentatively plans to turn pro in 2009.
On Monday, no one was even close to Keating’s qualifying score. She won by four strokes, and that’s despite playing the last three holes in 2 over par.
“This is very exciting,” she said.
Ferrero just finished her freshman season at the University of Washington. As a 16-year-old, she won an American Junior Golf Association tournament and finished second in the California Girls Junior Amateur. A year later, she qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur.
Ferrero hadn’t even seen the final 10 holes of the Colorado Golf Club course before Monday, but her caddie kept her going in the right direction.
“I really liked the course; it was a good test,” she said.
