A comeback round of 1-under 71 by Meghan Potee Tuesday at Heartland Crossing earned her the Pepsi Indiana Women’s Open title and her first major victory since winning Girls’ High School State Finals last year. The sophomore at Kansas signed up for the event to keep her game strong though the summer. “I am playing in a lot of local events to keep motivated, and tournament rounds are the best practice,” said Potee. Although, she isn’t getting a lot of other practice due to a shoulder injury. “I hadn’t practiced since last Wednesday! I had stress fractures in my ribs and my shoulder has been bothering me,” Potee explained.
But the troublesome shoulder and lack of recent practice didn’t seem to bother her too much. She carded a 74 the first day to stay within 2 shots of the lead held by Julia Potter after 18 holes. With Potee in the second-to-last group of the day in front of the leaders, she admitted she was curious how they were doing. “We were all so close together yesterday, I knew I needed to shoot around even par to stay in it and have a chance,” she said. “I was curious though the whole round and trying to look back and watch that final group. We asked our parents to see how they were doing. But it wouldn’t really have mattered too much.”
Despite her curiosity, Potee stuck to her own game and fired a 71- the only subpar round of the championship. “I made a bad bogey on 3, but I birdied the next hole. And at 18 I had a really good drive and hit a 5-wood from 177 out to about five feet and made the putt for birdie to finish under par.”
Professionals Julia Potter and Junthima Gulyanamitta finished tied in second at 147. This tournament marked the end of Potter’s professional golfing career. She played on the Futures Tour in 2010 and was able to make several cuts. And this Open marked the beginning of Gulyanamitta’s professional career. She found success at Purdue University and will now try her game in the professional realm.
See complete results here.