Brooke Beegle of Fishers earned her first IWGA victory after
a 3 & 2 win over Regan Pittard of Lafayette in the IWGA Match Play
Championship, held at The Player’s Club in Yorktown. Both players were forced to endure a lengthy
delay between their morning semi-final matches and another short delay during
the Championship Match, but Beegle jumped out to an early lead and never looked
back.
The rising sophomore from Purdue was 3 up after three holes
and controlled the final match the rest of the way. Her quick start was very important to
her. “It was important to get off to an
early start, because I had struggled on the back nine earlier in the week,”
Beegle said. She held a 4 up lead after
nine holes, but she saw her lead diminish to only 2 after Pittard won both the
par-4 11th and par-3 13th. However, Beegle responded with a two-putt par
to win the par-5 15th and calmly drained an 8-foot par putt on the
16th and final hole to win the match.
While Beegle enjoyed a healthy length advantage off the tee
for most of the match, she did not see that as an advantage. “She continued to hit greens and play well,
so I didn’t think my length was an advantage” Beegle noted. Instead, she was more concerned with her own
quality of play. Coming into the event,
she was unsure what kind of performance she would have. “I was just trying to play well because I had
been struggling the last couple of weeks.
I was just trying to play well and shoot good scores.”
The event is the start of a busy summer schedule for Beegle who
will also compete in the IWGA Team Championship, Indiana Women’s Amateur
Championship, and Indiana PGA Women’s Open.
“This is a big confidence booster and starting the summer off right is a
big help.”
In the morning’s semi-final matches, Beegle defeated Kristi
Cardwell of Kokomo, 1 up and Pittard defeated Mary Ellen Romero of Fishers 4
& 2.