Young/Lyle make it two titles in a row in CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman Championship
By Gary Baines – 09/08/2019
Prior to last year’s CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman Championship, Louise Lyle of Patty Jewett Golf Course and Sandra Young of Eisenhower Golf Club had never teamed up in competition.
They’ve now done so three times in CGA championships. And given that they’ve won two of those, there definitely seems to be some positive mojo working.
On Sunday, Lyle and Young won their second consecutive CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman, joining D’Ann Kimbrel and Stacey Arnold — who won three in a row starting in 2008 — as the only teams to go back-to-back in the event. (The champions are pictured above, with Young at left.)
This time, after taking a one-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round at Gypsum Creek Golf Course, Lyle and Young trailed playing companions Kathy Malpass of Hiwan Golf Club and Katherine Moore of The Club at Cordillera by one through 14 holes. But a big swing — as in four strokes — took place on the par-5 15th to give Lyle and Young the advantage back for good as they posted a two-stroke victory.
“It’s really surprising,” Young said of repeating as champions. “I really never truly ever felt that I would win a state championship because I started to play golf so late in life — when I was nearly 40. And to win a second time fills my heart. It was really special to be able to repeat.”
Sunday marked the second CGA championship for Young, and the third for Lyle, who was part of a four-person team from Patty Jewett to win the CGA Women’s Club Team title in 2016.
“I didn’t expect to repeat,” Lyle said via email. “I was hoping just to play well enough to prove we can kind of play and last year wasn’t a complete fluke. It was a tough course — mentally challenging. And it was beyond stressful trying to defend. I’ve never been so tired coming off No. 18.”
On the pivotal 15th hole on Sunday, Lyle drained a 20-foot birdie putt, while Malpass and Moore posted a snowman — a triple-bogey 8 — to account for the four-stroke swing.
“No. 15 turned it around,” Lyle said. “It was a perfect ham-and-egg hole. Sandy hit great tee shot, I smoked a hybrid, then Sandy put me 20 feet below the hole and my putt crept in the left side for a birdie. Sandy then hit some great shots coming in to hold the team together.”
Lyle and Young would go bogey-par-par over the final three holes to shoot a 7-over-par 79, giving them a two-day total of 9-over 153.
Malpass and Moore posted a second-round 80 to tie for second place at 155 with Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Christie Austin of Cherry Hills Country Club and Meg Christensen of Cordillera, who carded a second-round 77. Austin has won this event twice with Laurie Steenrod.
Catherine Stypula and Lisa Lee of Boulder Country Club placed fourth at 156.
“Yesterday we both played quite well,” Young said of Lyle and herself. “I’ve been going through some swing changes and the old swing was popping up today. I did not hit the ball as well today, but Louise played very well.”
Lyle, 53, and Young, 59, carded two birdies and nine bogeys on Sunday.
In the Dunham Chapman, each golfer hits a tee shot, then plays her partner’s ball for the second shot. After that, a scoring ball is chosen, and that ball is played alternately into the hole.
Besides pairing up competitively for their 2018 and ’19 victories in the Dunham Chapman, Lyle and Young teamed up for this year’s CGA Women’s Brassie, where they didn’t fare quite so well, tying for sixth place.
While Young hadn’t won a state title until last year, she captured the championship in a worldwide tournament for military spouses and dependents in 2010, and she’s qualified for at least four USGA championships — a Women’s Publinks, Mid-Am and a couple of Senior Ams.
The Dunham Chapman was renamed prior to the 2017 championship as a tribute to Jo Ann Dunham, a longtime CWGA volunteer whose brainchild was the Chapman, which was first contested in 2007. Dunham passed away on Sept. 28, 2016, just shy of her 77th birthday.
This year’s Dunham Chapman featured seven flights — championship and first through sixth — and gross and net competitions in each.
CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman Championship
At Par-72 Gypsum Creek GC in Gypsum
GROSS AND NET WINNERS
Championship Flight
Gross — Louise Lyle/Sandra Young 74-79–153
Net — (not including gross champions) (tie) Catherine Stypula/Lisa Lee 71-69–140; Karlin Hayes/Kate Connor 72-68–140
First Flight
Gross — Ann Cates/Leanna Rosenow 79-72–151
Net — (not including gross champions) Nancy Werkmeister/Trish Swanson 69-64–133
Second Flight
Gross — (tie) Jill Bendel/Val Talus 79-87–166; Chris Jansen/Linda Loveland 81-85–166
Net — (not including gross champions) Jessie Kresge/Lorrie Kresge 67-71–138
Third Flight
Gross — Amy Neary/Laura Watt 82-85—167
Net — Christy Martin/Terri Allender 65-69–134
Fourth Flight
Gross — Ashley Barto/Cindy Ortega 92-88–180
Net — (not including gross champions) Claudia Svarstad/Rochelle Tisdale 73-72–145
Fifth Flight
Gross — Jill Nickerson/Lynn Larson 94-90—184
Net — (not including gross champions) (tie) Becky Finger/Sharon Thiel 80-70–150; Chris Leger/Nancy Wilson 78-72–150
Sixth Flight
Gross — Harriet Daigle/Jo Anna Cline 97-95–194
Net — Cher Tufly/Laura Fischer 74-71–145
For all the scores from the Dunham Chapman, CLICK HERE.