Sherry Wright outlasted reigning back-to-back SCGA Senior Women's Player of the Year, Shelly Haywood, in a one-hole playoff at Las Posas CC to win her second Senior Amateur title in three years on Tuesday.
"I think both days were really about resiliency, fighting back," said Wright. "I had a triple on my first hole on Monday, then I had a double...I just hung in there. [My caddie] kept my head in the game."
Despite the less than ideal start to her first round on Monday, Wright ended with at 75, finding herself one stroke back from a three-way tie for first, which included Haywood. It didn't take much time for Wright to catch up to the leaders on day two, as a birdie on No. 2 put herself in the mix at the top of the leaderboard.
Haywood and Wright continued to go back and forth as the two other clubhouse leaders fell out of contention. Wright nearly holed out to to take the solo lead on No. 17 from a greenside bunker, but settled for par.
"Then I duck hooked my drive on 18, worst shot of the day, and made bogey. I thought I'd just blew it," Wright said.
However, she was pleasantly surprised to find out there was going to be a playoff, even after she'd packed up expecting to go home a runner-up.
"I was obviously nervous," said Wright. "I had only been in one other playoff really. I wanted to be left side of the fairway [in the playoff] because I had been right side both days and been in trouble."
Teeing off from the first hole, Wright's drive landed exactly as intended on the left side of the fairway, although the ball ended up on a tree trunk, on an up slope, with tree branches hanging down.
"This [drive] was, I guess, a lot of adrenaline because that's the farthest I've hit it," said Wright. "There was a lot of discussion about how we were going to pull that off and get it on the green."
Wright was able to escape with a wedge shot that landed within ten feet of the hole. And when it mattered most, her birdie putt to win the Senior Amateur title rolled in.
"Today was a good day, just didn't score as well, none of the putts went in," said Wright. "But it turned out how it needed to I guess."
Wright finished at nine-under, followed by Haywood and three-time Senior Amateur champion Kathy Kurata (+10) and Colette Rosenberg (+10).