Ninety percent of match play is not beating yourself.
Shannon Johnson did that to near perfection over four days at George Wright Golf Club to walk away with the 115th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur championship.
The Ping sales rep from Norton and Thorny Lea Golf Club defeated Claire Sheldon 3 and 2 in the final yesterday after dispatching Jackie Gonzalez 5 and 3 in the morning semifinals.
“This is the one that has kind of eluded me,” said Johnson, who lost at her home course in 2015 to Isabel Southard. “Going in after the Ouimet (last week), not that we had a lot of turnaround, I played really well on the last couple holes and that gave me some good momentum going into this.”
Johnson was steady from tee to green and rarely out of position. She hit 11 of 16 greens and was on the fringe each of the five greens she missed.
“I hit the ball the best I have all week,” she said. “It was really good tempo all day, maybe the only one was maybe on 14 when I hit (the tee shot) a little chunky, but luckily I was able to hit a good putt to gimme range. Overall, hit it in the fairway, hit it on the green and try to make some putts. That’s kind of all I was doing.”
Johnson put pressure on Sheldon immediately, hitting her approach at the opening hole to 5 feet for a birdie and also had bids at the next two holes.
Sheldon knotted the match on the par-3 fourth with a par, but Johnson reclaimed the advantage at No. 5 when Sheldon’s approach went through the green and she was unable to get up and down. Sheldon went over the green at No. 6 leading to a bogey and drove into trouble at No. 7, and Johnson was suddenly 3 up.
“I dug myself a hole that I couldn’t get out of,” said Sheldon, who won in 2007 at The Country Club, her home course, and 2012 at Brae Burn. “I didn’t make any putts, which didn’t help, and Shannon played great. I had to make birdies to beat her, so without the putts going in, it wasn’t going to happen today.”
Johnson was 1-under on her own ball with three birdies and two bogeys while Sheldon did not make a birdie and finished 2-over.
Johnson said she will play later this month in the men’s Massachusetts Mid-Amateur qualifier at Sandwich Hollows and then the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Norwood Hills in St. Louis in late September.
Johnson reached the final in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2016 and was a semifinalist a year ago.
“Between now and (the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur) I don’t really have much going on, so I was like, ‘I’m going to play in that,’ ” she said. “Even if I don’t get to the championship proper (at Plymouth CC) playing in the qualifier will be a good way to keep things sharp.”
Johnson already played with the men once this year, missing the 18-hole cut at the Hornblower Memorial at Plymouth in June.
Sheldon, a Cambridge resident, overcame a slow start in the morning semifinal before defeating Krystal Knight 3 and 2. Knight had a 2 up lead through five holes, but Sheldon played the final 11 holes in 1-under par.
Weston Country Club will be the site of next year’s tournament.
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