Byron Center’s Macie Elzinga takes first place at Michigan Junior Girls State Amateur – The Oakland Press
Macie Elzinga poses with the Mina L. Wright Memorial Trophy after winning a medal at the 46th Michigan Junior Girls’ State Amateur Championship, securing first place for match play. Elzinga shot a 69 (3 under par) on Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West Course to finish at 139 (5 under par). (Photo courtesy of Golf Association of Michigan)
EAST LANSING – Macie Elzinga of Byron Center, thankful for her putter and a birdie on her final hole, won the Mina L. Wright Memorial Trophy as the stroke play medalist and will be the top seed for match play at the 46th Michigan Junior Girls’ State Amateur Championship.
Elzinga, who has committed to play college golf at Bowling Green State University, shot a 69 (3 under par) at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West Course to finish at 139 (5 under par), just one stroke ahead of Traverse City’s Grace Slocum, who shot a 70 (140) for the second consecutive year.
“(Winning a medal) means everything to me,” she said. “I’ve been playing in this tournament since I was 12 years old and this is the very last Junior GAM tournament of my life. To be able to win this part of the tournament is very special.”
Alena Li of Okemos, who won last year’s stroke play medal, shot 73 of 147 to become the No. 3 seed. Mia Melendez of Ann Arbor and Logan Bentley of Addison each shot 76 of 148 to round out the top five.
Rain delayed play in the morning and led to a shotgun opening round to get the tournament back on schedule. Match play continues through Thursday with 16 golfers in the overall standings.
The under-15 division featured a match play tournament with eight golfers. Saisha Patil of Okemos won a medal and will be the top seed for the second year in a row.
Patil shot a 5-under course score of 67 for 139, finishing well ahead of two players in second place – Tula Puzzuoli of Washington Township, who shot 79 for 153, and Hannah Kim of Troy, who shot 78 for 153.
“I’m really excited,” said Patil. “This is my best result so far. I’m really proud of myself. The last few weeks leading up to this were a bit tough, but I think I made a good comeback.”
Elzinga, a semifinalist in the recent Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship, said her morale was in turmoil during the round.
“I missed a lot of shots, but I was able to recover from the bad ones with some pretty good shots,” she said. “My putter was really hot, so that helped. I really didn’t know it would be that close (for the medal). I didn’t look at the leaderboard, but the fact that I only won by one shot makes me very thankful that my putter worked today.”
Elzinga said the wet and windy conditions made it difficult.
“There were some holes where the wind took my ball to places I didn’t want to be, but I was able to rebound,” she said. “So no complaints.”
Elzinga said she has worked hard over the past year to stay in the process.
“No matter what’s happening out there, I’m focused on one shot at a time and what I can control,” she said. “The fact that it rained this morning was out of my control and I just had to focus on the fact that I know I can play good golf and I know I can hit the shots.”
Elzinga will play against Chaille Payne of Spring Lake, who won a three-golfer playoff with 163 strokes for 16th place in the standings.
“This is the first time I’m not the underdog,” said Elzinga. “It will certainly be a different mindset, but I’m still just going to focus on one shot at a time and do what I can. And hopefully that will end with me winning another trophy.”
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