Santa Barbara Women's Open champion Jacquie Misho watches her putt roll towards the 18th pin. (Photo by Vince Agapito)
Jacquie Misho shot even par on the back nine at Sandpiper Golf Course and pulled away from Fumie Sato to win the championship flight at the Santa Barbara Women’s Open on Thursday.
Misho held a one-shot lead (78 to 79) over Sato after Wednesday’s first round at the Santa Barbara Golf Club. She fired a 76 on a picture-postcard day at Sandpiper and finished with a 36-hole total of 154. Sato struggled on Thursday with an 84 and came in at 163. Carol Frazzano-Bailey was third with a gross score of 182.
The net winner of the championship flight was Peacha Nogueira at 152 (69-83).
Misho said she had a tough time at the Santa Barbara Golf Club, but she was in a groove on the seaside Sandpiper course.
“I had a lot of one putts. I rolled the ball really well with the putter today,” she said. “I have to say the greens were in awesome shape. They were just rolled, I guess, this morning before we played and it made everything totally predictable. You could see the line, it was great. It was pleasure playing here today.”
Despite some inconsistent play, Misho managed to take a two-stroke advantage on Sato after the front nine holes. She then took command when she sank a birdie putt on the par-5 13th hole. She played par golf the rest of the way.
“The back nine I started hitting pretty good off the tee, just bombing it,” Misho said. “It let me have small clubs into the green and when the greens are rolling this well, it’s a lot easier.”
Donna Dishman of Glen Annie GC won the first flight with a gross scored of 186 (94-92) and Judy Pachciarz of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Executive Women’s Golf Association, was the net winner 147 (69-78).
Jacquelin Shaw of Cypress Ridge won the gross title (206) in the second flight and Edel Kraft was the net winner at 155.
In the third flight, Mary Eller Knowles of the EWGA-LA was first in gross score at 208 and Sharon Ortale was first net at 155.
In a team scramble event, the foursome of Tammy Esposito, Susan Parker, Laura Jesperson and Irelle Beatie (the tournament director) took top honors at 145.
Beatie said the entries were down this year due to a big tournament in Long Beach at the same time.
This was Beatie’s final year as director of the tournament.
“After seven years, this is my final year running the Santa Barbara Women’s Open Golf Tournament but I am happy to say that EWGA Santa Barbara will continue the tradition of this tournament with a new director and committee next year,” she said. “We are planning to change the dates to work around conflicting tournaments in Southern California and hope to get the field back up to the 120 players we have had in the past.”
