Marcy Newton

Marcy Newton realized her potential this year by winning the 47th Girls' Junior played at Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club, an ingenious Donald Ross layout located virtually atop the Massachusetts-Connecticut border between Springfield and Hartford. Newton, from High Point, N.C., defeated Andera Cordova of Fresno, Calif., in the final match by a 4-and-3 margin.

Newton had shown her share of frustration in the 1994 Girls' Junior. She made the long trip from home to Great Falls, Montana, to play in her first Girls' Junior but shot 83-81 and failed to qualify for match play. Cordova, likewise, hadn't had much success in past years. Twice her USGA Handicap Index was too high to qualify for the starting field, and in 1993 her entry application reached Golf House after the filing deadline.

This year, though, both players found success at Longmeadow in reaching the final match. Newton benefited from some poor putting by Cordova on the second and third holes, then birdied the fifth and sixth holes to go 2 up. She momentarily faltered on the seventh, but that hole was the last that Cordova would win. Newton would birdie the 12th, and eventually prevail on the 15th green by holing a short par putt.

Longmeadow's many ravines and chasms made the course a splendid venue for match play. Players were offered a variety of strategic options, which enabled all matches to take sudden and often bizarre twists and turns.