17th WPGA Women's & 8th WPGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship starts Wednesday
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications • July 14, 2024
VERONA — The WPGA’s third major tournament of 2024 begins Wednesday with the 17th WPGA Women’s Amateur Championship at Green Oaks Country Club.
The Women’s Am is a two-round, 36-hole competition that will be played over Wednesday and Thursday. The Senior Women’s Amateur is an 18-hole event and will be contested only Thursday.
The event features Net and Gross competitions for the Women’s, Senior Women’s and Super-Senior Women’s divisions.
A year ago, Katie Miller Gee won the 16th WPGA Women’s Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club, running away with the title while shooting a 9-over score of 157, winning by eight strokes over Sarah White — the 2022 Women’s Amateur Champion.
Morgan Byers claimed the Women’s Net division with a 1-over score of 149 (Net adjusted from 175).
The Senior Women’s Amateur title went to Randi Lichtenstein, who won by three strokes, shooting a 7-over 81. Carol Onufro won the Senior Women’s Net division, shooting 2-under 72 (Net adjusted from 84).
Kathleen Smith, in a playoff, topped Claudette Graham for the Super-Senior division crown, as both competitors shots 16-over. Graham took the Net division with an adjusted score of 12-over.
The Women’s Amateur Championship began in 1999. It was not contested from 2008 to 2016, but returned in 2017. That year, the Senior and Super Super-Senior divisions were added with both gross and net fields.
Some of the top amateur women’s golfers in the region have won the West Penn Women’s Am, including amateur legend Carol Semple Thompson, who took the title in 2004 at Willowbrook Country Club. Semple Thompson recently received a special exemption to play in the upcoming U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel Golf Club.
This will be the third time that the Championship has been played at Green Oaks Country Club. Katherine James, Kristine Hnat and Rosie Studer won the three divisions at Green Oaks in 2020. 14 years earlier, Susan Colton took the Women’s Am at Green Oaks.
There is scheduled to be 20 competitors in the field at Green Oaks between Wednesday and Thursday’s competitions, including defending champions Miller Gee and Lichtenstein, as well as current Duquesne Women’s Golf coach Colleen Meyers.
WPIAL Class 3A champion Mya Morgan, who finished runner-up at the WPGA Girls’ Match Play Championship earlier this month, is also in the field. Michigan State golfer and South Fayette grad Caroline McConnell will play in the Am, as will her former high school teammate, Marissa Malosh, who will compete after wrapping up her freshman season at Delaware.
For starting times and a live leaderboard, click here (GGID: 24WPGAWMS).
For media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and nearly 37,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.