New England Charity Classic presented by PTC
Stonebridge Country Club
Goffstown, New Hampshire
August 8, 2014
First-Round News & Notes
Hampstead Native Thibodeau Shoots 87
Kempter plays well and shares baseball passion
Massachusetts Native in Hunt
Hole in One for Rachael Schmidt
Basketball or Golf?
GOFFSTOWN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, August 8, 2014 – Lacey Agnew shot a 4-under 68 to take a one shot lead on Friday in the first-round of the New England Charity Classic presented by PTC at Stonebridge Country Club.
Veronica Felibert, who won the Credit Union Classic last week in Syracuse, and Katie Kempter are in a tie for second at 3-under 69. Nicole Vandermade, Laura Wearn, Brittany Altomare and Amy Meier are tied for fourth at 2-under 70. It was a tough scoring day as just 17 players finished under par.
Agnew, who started on the back nine, made five birdies over her first nine holes including three in a row between the 16th and 18th holes.
“I just tried to hit it as close as I could and fortunately I was able to make some long putts,” said the 26-year-old Agnew. “I had a lot of confidence on the front nine and I was able to roll the putts in.”
Agnew’s back nine was steady with eight pars and her lone bogey of the day came on the 17th hole. She finished with a two-putt par on the ninth hole with the sun setting over the green.
“I got to 5-under on the back nine, my front nine, and I just tried to be patient on the front nine.”
Agnew, who turned professional in 2010, had her best finish of her career this year at the Island Resort Championship when she placed in a tie for ninth. She had her first experience of holding a lead when she carried a 36-hole lead into the final day.
“In Harris, I kind of lost track of how much adrenaline I had going and although I was calm and didn’t have any nerves, my adrenaline was going at times. I’ll take that into account tomorrow.”
Agnew believes that patience will be the key over the weekend.
“I’m excited to have the lead, but I’ve got two days to go so we will just be patient and see how it goes.”
This is Agnew’s 42nd career Epson Tour event and she will aim for her first career win. She currently ranks 86th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with $5,549 earned through 15 events.
“I’m just looking forward to finishing strong, what happens over the weekend happens. Whether that is a win or not, at least I’ll have some confidence heading into Qualifying School.”
Agnew, who finished in the final group after 7:00 p.m., will tee off at 9:20 a.m. on Saturday in the second round.
“I’m going to go home, have some dinner and hit the bed. I’ll wake up and hopefully do it again tomorrow.”
HAMPSTEAD NATIVE THIBODEAU SHOOTS 87: 14-year-old Lauren Thibodeau shot a 15-over 87 in the first round. She made two birdies including a putt from the fringe on 18 to avoid being disqualified.
“It wasn’t that bad, I made a couple birdies,” said Thibodeau. “I’m so excited to be able to play tomorrow, it is a lot of fun out here.”
Thibodeau was paired with Allie White and Jamila Jaxaliyeva.
“I was obviously focusing on my game, but I was looking at the leaderboard and seeing who was doing well because I recognize a lot of the Big Break girls and it looks like they are doing well.”
KEMPTER PLAYS WELL AND SHARES BASEBALL PASSION: Katie Kempter has been to 20 of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and wants to one day visit them all. She really wanted to check Yankee Stadium off during the northeast swing, but decided the drive was too far.
Kempter shot a 3-under 69 and held the clubhouse lead until late in the day.
“I birdied number one and played solid golf coming down the front,” said the 27-year-old Kempter. “I got to the back nine and holed out for eagle with a 9-iron from 130 yards and then the swing got a little iffy, but I had a nice 2-putt birdie on 18 for the 69.”
Kempter’s caddie for 11 holes was Catherine O’Donnell’s full-time caddie Phil Crowl, who agreed to help Kempter because O’Donnell’s tee time wasn’t until 1:20 p.m. Kempter came onto the Epson Tour mobile office on Thursday to make sure it was within the rules to use a caddie that was scheduled to loop in the afternoon.
“He picked my bag up until he had to leave and we’re walking up towards my ball on 11 and he said let’s get a good number and we’ll put a good read on it and send me off with a birdie. I hit it and it lands six feet short and it rolls and I said to Phil ‘where did that go?’ and he said I think it might have gone in.”
Kempter used the perfect baseball analogy to describe what just happened.
“I told him it was like a walk off grand slam. He went off after 11 to go caddie for Catherine and I carried my bag the rest of the way.”
Kempter finished second at Qualifying School in 2009 and played on the LPGA Tour in 2010, a year after she turned professional. She recalls feeling a little overwhelmed, seeing the likes of Laura Davies and Juli Inkster on the same driving range.
Kempter now feels ready for a return to the LPGA Tour. She currently ranks 33rd on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with $16,122.
“The tournaments I’ve won in the past like state opens, I’ve always come from behind. I think I play better that way. I like the chase, I like the hunt so 33rd on the money list is a great number to be at.”
Kempter has six career top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour, but no wins.
MASSACHUSETTS NATIVE IN HUNT: Brittany Altomare, from Schrewsbury, Massachusetts, which is 70 miles due south from Goffstown, shot a 2-under 70 on day one at Stonebridge Country Club.
“It’s really nice to be playing near home, I got to see my dad and my mom and my friend from home is caddying for me,” said the 23-year-old Altomare. “I also got to go home for a couple days before this event so that was nice too.”
Altomare traded two birdies for two bogeys on the front nine to make the turn at even par. She then made birdie on ten and eleven. She made par on her final seven holes.
“I hit the ball well and it was a nice day out. My caddie made a good call on hole five to help me save par so I was really happy about that so overall it was a good day.”
HOLE IN ONE FOR RACHAEL SCHMIDT: On hole 15, Rachel Schmidt recorded a hole-in-one with an 8-iron from 138 yards away. It was the 11th ace on the Epson Tour this season.
It was her second career hole-in-one, but first in a competitive round.
“It was awesome, the ball was right at the pin and it took one hop and went in,” said Schmidt. “There were a few people behind the green and there were high-fives all around after I picked up my ball.”
Schmidt thought about putting the ball away in her bag, but she used it on holes 16 through 18 and is thankful she didn’t have a lost ball.
“I’ll probably mark it up with the date and keep it forever.”
BASKETBALL OR GOLF?: If you took a poll to find out who was the most athletic player on Tour, Kendra Little’s name would undoubtedly appear near the top. She played basketball and golf growing up and actually had an opportunity to play both sports at Oregon.
On Friday, Little shot a 1-under-par 71 in the first round and stands three shots off the lead.
“I got off to a pretty calm start with a couple pars and then I hit one real close on four and tapped it in for birdie and I was pretty even keel from there,” said the Eugene, Oregon native Little. “I went bogey-bogey on 15 and 16 which was kind of disappointing, but I got one back on 17.”
Little is widely recognized as one of the longest hitters on the Tour. She ranks third in average driving distance at 260.857.
“I’ve always hit it pretty far, I just attribute it to my athleticism. It’s definitely a good thing, but at times it can get me in trouble so as of late I’ve been learning to tone it down a bit and be a little bit more of a controlled player.”
Little was one of the few players that hit an iron off the tee on the first hole, a par-5.
“For me, some of the landing zones where I hit my driver are really narrow so it forces me to hit a two or four iron, whatever the case my be.”
Little says that basketball was her main sport growing up, but she saw a longer career in golf.
“Nobody in my family really played golf except for my uncle who is a really avid golfer and I idolized him so I did whatever he did. Basketball was my main thing, but I saw more of a future in golf. The two sports are very different, one is very reactive and one is very slow and drawn out.”
“I miss basketball, but I’m happy playing golf, it is what I do.”
)
)
)
)
