Swartout Notches Ace, Earns Medalist Honors at Woman's Amateur

ROCHESTER - Elise Swartout (Ann Arbor / Western Michigan University) thought it was the highlight of her day when she picked up a hole-in-one on the 8th hole with her 8-iron in the second round of stroke play at the GAM Michigan Women’s Amateur at Great Oaks Country Club. But she had a second highlight when her even-par round of 72 catapulted her to the top of the leader board and earned her medalist honors. She was 76 - 72 - 148 for the two days of stroke play.

“I wasn’t really thinking about being the medalist,” said Swartout. “My goal was just to make the cut and make it to match play.” 

Swartout admitted she went against common golf sense when she made the decision to go for the pin on number eight. Instead, she went with her gut and her favorite short iron and ended up with her first career ace.

“The pin was kind of tucked so you couldn’t really see it,” said Swartout. “The typical line of thought would be to just go for the green, but I felt very comfortable with my club and very comfortable with my swing and I just decided to go for the pin. We didn’t even see it go in, we just heard people yelling that it was in.”

For the second day in a row, Swartout said the wind played a role on the Great Oaks course.

“The wind was a factor again today, but the course played very differently than it did yesterday,” said Swartout. “I think it was a different game for everyone today.”

Swartout, 21, is a senior at Western Michigan University and a graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer. This is her third Michigan Women’s Amateur.

Britney Hamilton (Lake Orion / 75-80-155) and Christine Meier (Rochester Hills / 78-77-155) tied for second place.

“My only goal today was to play better than I did yesterday,” said Hamilton, who is a senior at Western Michigan University. “That didn’t happen but I putted a lot better overall so I am happy with my round.”

Meier is a senior at Rochester High School where she is an honor roll student.

Caitlin Bennett (Grosse Pointe Woods) and Melissa Beurmann (Jackson) won a three-way playoff with Lauren Gardner (Caseville) to earn the last two spots in match play competition.

Match play brackets are posted on the GAM web site at www.gam.org and there will be live scoring for the last three days of the tournament.