Laurie Rinker

Laurie Rinker, 17, of Stuart, Florida, won the Championship in her sixth try by defeating Libby Akers, 15, of French Lick, Indiana, 5 and 4, in the final match at the Crestview Country Club, in Wichita, Kansas. Miss Rinker played in her first Girls' Junior in 1975 at the age of 12. Miss Rinker player only 86 holes in winning her six matches.

In the first three rounds she played only 37 holes by winning, 8 and 7, 5 and 3, and 8 and 7. She won her quarter-final match by 3 and 1, and in her semi-final match, against 15-year-old Heather Farr, Miss Rinker had to hole a seven foot birdie putt on the 17th and halve the 18th to win, 1 up. She shot 73, one over par. Miss Rinker was off to a slow start in the final with a double bogey 6 at the first hole and a bogey five at the second, but she was only 1 down.

From there on her golf was superb; she missed only one green the rest of the way. She played the first nine in 39 strokes; Miss Akers shot 41. Miss Rinker then won the 10th, 11th, and 13th holes to go 5 up. She closed out the match by halving the 14th hole. The medalist was Cynthisa Schreyer, of Peachtree, Georgia, with a 36 hole score of 151. There was a playoff at 168 for the 64yh place in the match play. The USGA received 162 entries, short of the record 176 received in 1979.