Three players staged late rallies to win and the medalist and defending
champion lost, as the 89th Women's Amateur championship of the Maryland
State Golf Association held its opening round of match play at Sparrows
Point Country Club, July 20.

Diana Brown, from Congressional Country Club, was 2-down to defender Kelly
Lynch, Chartwell CC, with three holes left, then won Nos. 16-17-18 with
pars to pull out a 1-up decision. The final score marked the only time she
was ahead in the match, although never more than 2-down. Kimbra Benson,
Breton Bay G&CC, went ahead of Michelle Grilli, Chestnut Ridge CC for the
first time at the 17th hole, then halved 18 for another 1-up victory.

It remained for Karishma Thiagaraj, winner of the recent MSGA Junior Girls
title, to spring the biggest upset. The Rockville resident was 2 up
after nine holes, but Mattson, from Keith Hills GC, did not make more than
par on any of the back-nine holes and in the process won Nos.11-12-16 to
go 1 up. They halved the 17th, but Thiagaraj staged a stunning comeback,
dropping a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to force overtime.
At the 341-yard first hole, Thiagaraj continued her heroics, as she hit a
140-yard 8-iron shot to within a foot of the cup. Mattson had 10 feet for
birdie but missed the putt.

Three first-time entrants in the event came through with victories.
Kimberly Thomas, Winters Run GC, defeated Audra McShane, Cattail Creek CC,
5 and 4. The other newcomers dispatched veterans, as Nicole West,
Enterprise GC, stopped former champion Corrie Tayman, Congressional CC, 3
and 2, and Alexis Holmes, University of Maryland GC, thwarted Lisa
Schlesinger, a two-time finalist from Norbeck CC, also 3 and 2.

Thomas, 19, a California (Pa.) State University sophomore from Bel Air,
turned 3 up and cited "fantastic putting" as a key to her triumph. West,
18, a Hampton University sophomore, was 1 up after nine, as she and Tayman
traded the lead. The latter stayed in the hunt when she won the 13th,
but West went on to close it out. Holmes, 19, a University of Maryland
junior from West Chester, Pa., appeared in command when she turned 1 up and
won Nos. 10-11. A determined Schlesinger battled back to take the 12th and
13th to get within one, and they halved the 14th. Then Holmes took charge,
winning the 15th with a birdie and the 16th with a par to end it.

In the other two matches, former champion Caroline Sweet, from Crofton CC,
knocked out Hillary Lawson, a teammate of Holmes' at Maryland, and a
three-time Middle Atlantic Junior Girls champion from Montgomery Village
GC, 5 and 3, and Kaitlyn Rohrback, Crofton CC, won from Caroline Trevisan,
Congressional CC, 4 and 3. Sweet turned 1 up, then won four of five holes
against Lawson, while Rohrback won two of the first three holes and lost
only one hole thereafter in taking command of her match.

Two rounds July 21 will determine the two finalists for the July 22nd-
scheduled 18-hole match.

-Reported by John Stewart from Sparrows Point CC