USGA STATE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN....

If only the tournament had lasted one more day, the Carolinas might have claimed both the men's and women's champion teams at the 1997 USGA State Team Championships near Phoenix, Arizona, September 16-18. One more day might have been the difference as the hard charging North Carolina men's team went from 12th to 5th on the last day and the North Carolina women's team came from 5th to take 2nd on the final day of competition.

The format had three-player teams competing at stroke play for 54 holes, with the better two scores of each team each day making up the team total. The men's competition was at the 6,583 yard, par 71, Sun Ridge Canyon Golf Club in Fountain Hills, while the women were playing the 6,024 yard, par 72, Kierland Golf Club in Scottsdale.

The North Carolina women's team was made up of Curtis Cup team member Brenda Corrie Kuehn of Fletcher, Lisa Mooneyham of Haw River, and Page Marsh Lea of Southern Pines; while the South Carolina women had Karen Feree of Hilton Head, Lea Anne Brown of Mt. Pleasant, and Ann Potts of Columbia competing for the Palmetto state.

The men's contingent from South Carolina consisted of Mark Thaxton of Rock Hill, Sammy Truett of Myrtle Beach, and Walker Cup team member Duke Delcher of Hilton Head. Paul Simson of Raleigh, Steve Wright of Laurinburg, and Bob Stanger of Durham made up the men's squad from North Carolina.

The South Carolina women got a strong performance from Feree, whose even par 216 total was good enough to tie for fourth place indiviually and help South Carolina finish tied for 24th out of the 45 teams. Brown finished at 242 and Potts at 244. The South Carolina men had Delcher finish at one-under par 212 to tie for ninth individually as along with Truett's 221, and Thaxton's 231, the team finished tied for ninth place at five-over par 431.

The North Carolina men followed Simson's final round 66 and a three day total of 211 to a team fifth place finish, 11 shots behind champion Minnesota. Simson's total was good for fifth individually. Stanger was at 218 and Wright finished at 226.

The North Carolina women's team charged from fifth to second the last day behind Kuehn's final round 67, which vaulted her into a tie for medalist at three-under par 213. Lea's 224 and Mooneyham's 243 also contributed to the team's successful five-over par 437, eight shots behind runaway champion Alabama.

The USGA State Team Competition will next be held at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Courses in Williamsburg, Virginia in September of 1999.