Canadian Amateur Champion Lisa Meldrum Leads Canadian Womens Tour Event
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:41:20
The $30,000 tournament is the last of four Tour events that serve as qualifiers for the 2002 Bank of Montreal Canadian Women's Open, which will be played at Summerlea Golf & Country Club, near Montreal, August 12-18.
Quebec native Isabelle Beisiegel, who finished second to Meldrum today with a 1-under-par 71, has already earned one of the seven Women's Open exemptions by winning a prior Tour event, as has Vancouver's Chris Greatrex. Liz Earley, the Tour event winner in her hometown St. Catharines two weeks ago, announced today that she was giving up her exemption to pursue her goal of getting into the top 10 on the Futures Tour. As a result, five exemptions - the Blainville winner, the top three golfers on the Tour's Order of Merit, and the top overall low amateur - will be on the line in Tuesday's final round.
Meldrum, the first women's golfer to win the Canadian junior and amateur championships in successive years, could assure herself of an exemption to the Women's Open by winning in Blainville, since the tournament winner is awarded 400 points in the standings. But a victory would also pose a dilemma.
"If I happen to win, it's going to come down to a decision whether to defend my Canadian amateur championship and have what might be my last shot to go with the Canadian team to the worlds in Malaysia in October or play in an LPGA Tour event that is real close to home and would be a great experience," explained the 20-year-old Meldrum. "We'll see how things turn out tomorrow, because right now there's no decision to make."
Meldrum, a third-year student at the University of Oklahoma, bogeyed two of the first three holes on Monday before settling down and turning in an impressive card that included six birdies.
"It's rained quite a bit in the last 24 hours, so the course was very wet," said Meldrum. ``All in all, there wasn't too much roll. The ball was flying and stopping off the tee. But it was a lot of fun playing in an event that's close to home. I had a friend along who caddied for me and I had my parents there, which is great."
Earley, continuing her consistent play that has produced success on both the Canadian Women's Tour and the Futures Tour, is in third place, three strokes back of Meldrum, after carding an even-par 72.
Elaborating on her decision to decline the exemption that she earned in St. Catharines, Earley, who is currently 13th on the Futures money list, said, "I've planned my whole golf year around finishing in the top 10 on the Futures Tour. "The top 10 money winners qualify for the final stage of the LPGA qualifying school. I want to get to that stage so that I can earn my LPGA card. There are only three tournaments left on the Futures Tour and I would have to miss a Futures tournament if I played in the Canadian Women's Open."
"
