With a final round 4-under-par, 66, Annabelle Pancake won the 97th Indiana Women’s Amateur championship by three strokes over Haylin Harris.
Pancake, Zionsville, entered the final round trailing Harris by two strokes after rounds of 70 and 72 to begin the week. The rising senior at Zionsville High School had a relaxed mindset going into the final round.
“My main goal was to go out and have fun and stay relaxed,” Pancake said. “Just go play golf and whatever happens, happens and if the putts fall, great, and if not I’ll keep trying.”
The putts fell in the final round in bunches. A double-bogey on the fourth hole was her only dropped shot of the day but she rolled in six birdie putts in the first 11 holes including three straight between holes nine and 11.
Pancake finished off the round with seven straight pars including a 20-foot par putt on 17 to keep her lead at three strokes heading to 18 tee.
“The par putt on 17 was huge,” Pancake said. “Towards the end of the round, I wasn’t hitting my tee shots as well and to be able to make putts outside of 15 feet to save par was really nice.”
Pancake proceeded to get up-and-down once again on 18 and make par to secure the three-shot victory. Her final round 66 was tied for the lowest round of the tournament and she led the field with 12 birdies over the 54-hole event.
“It’s nice to know this kind of performance is there and you never know what can happen,” Pancake said. “You have to keep fighting and the last day it came around.”
Over the three days, Pancake had three different caddies from her dad who she said helped her create a strategy to stick with the entire tournament to her teammate Abby and boyfriend Collin who kept her relaxed and positive throughout the last two rounds.
Pancake joins her mother, Libby Akers (1985), and aunt, Kelli Akers (1990), as winners of the Indiana Women’s Amateur Championship.
Other Flight Winners Included:
First flight: Avery Vondiingen
Second Flight: Liz Kim
Third Flight: Casey Bunner
Fourth Flight: Danbi Kim
Fifth Flight: Sydney Longstreth
Sixth Flight: Kristianna Lingenfelter
For full results from the 97th Indiana Women’s Amateur Championship, click here: https://iga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/iga19/event/iga1944/contest/21/leaderboard.htm
