Leigh Anne Hardin

Leigh Anne Hardin, who reached the semifinals in 1996 and the third round in 1997, claimed her first national championship when she defeated 17-year-old Brittany Straza, 2 up, in the 50th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Hardin, 16, found herself down early in the final match when Straza, from Ft. Myers, Fla., sank a two-foot birdie putt on the first hole. It was the first deficit Hardin faced during the championship. The match remained that way until the ninth hole, when a three-putt bogey by Straza squared the match.

With a short birdie putt of her own on the 11th, Hardin gained her first lead of the match, but she quickly gave it away with a bogey on the 13th. Another three-putt bogey by Straza on the 14th hole gave Hardin the lead once again, but it, too, was short-lived. The match was squared for the third and final time when Hardin missed a six-foot par putt on the 16th green. For the first time all week, Hardin would be extended to the 18th hole in a match.

Hardin won the most coveted prize of her career by doing something she hadn't done all week; she scrambled. She and Straza missed both of the final two greens with errant iron shots, but only Hardin was able to right herself. She secured the title by getting up and down for par on both holes.

Other than the final match, Hardin, a resident of Martinsville, Ind., had no close calls during match play. Her margins of victory leading up to her 2-up victory in the final match were 5 and 4, 9 and 7, 3 and 2, 6 and 5, and 6 and 4. By playing a total of only 86 holes during match play, Hardin matched 1980 champion Laurie Rinker by playing the fewest number of holes en route to winning the title since the championship had been conducted in a six-round format.

In the semifinals, Hardin defeated Kristin Thompson of Napa, Calif., 6 and 5. Straza defeated Jessica Reese of Santa Rosa, Calif., 5 and 3 to advance to the finals.