Shipley Wins Medalist Honors at Michigan Women’s Amateur
REDFORD, Mich. – Kentucky women’s golfer Sarah Shipley got just the jumpstart she needed for her junior season at UK with a successful week at the Michigan Women’s Amateur.
Shipley won medalist honors in the stroke-play portion of the event and advanced to the semifinals of match play before bowing out Thursday at the Western Golf & Country Club in Redford, Michigan.
The Hastings, Michigan, native was the best golfer on the course during stroke play. She recorded back-to-back 72s for a score of even par, three shots clear of her closest competitor. The performance earned her the No. 1 seed in the match-play portion of the event, which was trimmed to the top 32 golfers in the 83-player field after stroke play.
Shipley played like the No. 1 seed for most of match play with dominating performances. She won her first three matches with relative ease, cruising to victories of 5&4, 3&2 and 4&3 before falling 3&2 in the semifinals to fourth-seeded Kerrigan Parks. Shipley got down by four holes before the front nine was over but hung tough and made it a match.
Shipley’s 3-1 record in match play this week won’t come as a surprise after her success in the format at Kentucky. She sports a 3-0 record in match play in college, having won a match against annual powerhouse Kent State last season and winning the individual bracket at the East & West Match Play Championship her freshman year.
It’s been a solid summer for Shipley, who will enter the 2018-19 season as one of Kentucky’s leaders. In June she tied for second among all amateurs and fourth overall at the Ohio Women’s Open with a two-round score of 142. Shipley’s 69 in the first round was tied for the second-best score among all players in the field.
Shipley enjoyed a breakout sophomore season, posting career bests in stroke average (75.3), 18-hole low (68), 54-hole low (219) and top-20 finishes (two). UK used all 17 of her scores towards the team total.
Her 75.0 stroke average in the spring was the best on the team, and she was certainly playing the best golf down the stretch with a 13th-place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 2018 summer has been a successful one for the Wildcats as a whole. The highlight was the Marion Miley Invitational, where senior Claire Carlin led five Wildcats in the top seven with the individual championship. Junior Josephine Chang finished four shots back at 4-over par for a third-place showing, incoming freshman Casey Ott won junior championship honors and tied for fourth overall at 7-over par, and sophomore Sarah Fite and Ryan Bender tied for sixth at 10-over par.
The 2018-19 Kentucky women’s golf season is just around the corner. Players have begun reporting for the start of classes next week, and the first tournament – the Minnesota Invitational (Sept. 10-11) – is less than a month away.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
