Stasi gets 3d win in Mid-Amateur

As she basked Thursday in the satisfaction of winning her record-tying third U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship, Meghan Stasi recalled a speech she had heard at the event's players' dinner from 2009 winner Martha Leach.

"She talked about waiting 34 years to get her first win" in a U.S. Golf Association championship, Stasi said in a telephone interview. "It's not easy. It says a lot to win one. I'm very fortunate to have three."

Stasi, the former Voorhees resident who was known as Meghan Bolger before her marriage last year to South Florida restaurant owner Danny Stasi, defeated Carol Robertson of Virginia Beach, Va., 2-up, in the final at Wichita (Kan.) Country Club.

"It's still settling in," she said, three hours after the match ended. "Really, it truly is a great accomplishment. I'm happy to have my name back on the trophy."

The 32-year-old Stasi almost made short work of Robertson, a reinstated amateur. She recorded six birdies in the first 11 holes and held a 4-up lead.

But Robertson won the next three holes to reduce the deficit to one. Stasi took the 15th hole to go 2-up but gave it back at No. 17 when she 3-putted, and held a 1-up lead walking to the uphill 380-yard finishing hole.

"She played really well and made a few putts," Stasi said. "On 18, it was the same mind-set as it was all day. I still felt great. I was just trying to make a solid par."

Stasi knocked her approach shot to 20 feet. Robertson hit her second into a bunker and blasted out to about the same distance. Robertson played first and, after missing her par putt, conceded the match.

Stasi then hugged her father and caddie, Mike Bolger, and her husband.

"They were crying a little bit," she said. "I'm glad they hung in there. It's not easy watching; I'd rather be playing."

With her win, Stasi tied Sarah LeBrun Ingram and Ellen Port for most championships won in the event.

U.S. Mid-Amateur. Former Pennsylvania Amateur champion and 2009 U.S. Walker Cup player Nathan Smith of Pittsburgh won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in Bridgehampton, N.Y., with a 7-and-5 win over Tim Hogarth. Smith joined Berwyn's Jay Sigel as the event's only three-time winners.