Alice Chen Fires 65 To Win Public Links 2nd Year In Row
Alice Chen of Neshanic Valley, who has won the NJSGA Women’s Amateur and two Junior Girls championships returned to New Jersey on Thursday, July 9, in defense of her NJSGa Public Links Championship.
All she did was match a career-low with a five-under-par 65 to edge Kasey Frazier of Twisted Dune by one shot to win the 12th NJSGA Women’s Public Links Championship at par-70, 5,205-yard Knob Hill Golf Club in Manalapan.
Noelle Maertz of Hyatt Hills shot 70 for third-place overall while Brittany Weddell of Spring Meadow was fourth with a 71 in the field of 36.
Flight winners included Maertz (1st Flight, gross), Ellie Yum of Galloping Hill (1st net, match of cards), Jane Li of Mercer Oaks (2nd, gross), Claire Hogan of Green Knoll (2nd, net) and Fern Chen of EWGA (3rd net, m.o.c.) and Cheryl Williams (3rd gross).
COMPLETE SCORING VIEW PHOTO GALLERY
Chen recorded six birdies against one bogey on a course she saw for only the second time since a practice round last week.
“I noticed the course was playing short and I wanted to take advantage of the par fives and the par threes. I wanted to dial it in with my short irons. The greens were a little slow, but rolled nice and true,” said Chen, whose other 65 came at the 2014 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament of Champions at Cherry Valley in Skillman.
This summer, Chen will also participate in the NJSGA Four-Ball championship (July 22, Copper Hill C.C.) with former Montgomery High School teammate Allison Herring, a rising freshman at Tennessee, and the NJSGA Women’s Amateur (Aug. 3-6, Bedens Brook C.C.), which she won in 2013.
Chen enjoyed an outstanding freshman season at Furman University where she won Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and led Furman to the conference title along with Taylor Totland of Hollywood, the Conference Player of the Year. Totland won the NJSGA Women’s Amateur last year and beat Chen in the semifinals, 19 holes.
“My freshman year experience at Furman was great. I was constantly surrounded by girls who helped me be the best I can be both on and off the golf course,” said Chen, who lives in Princeton.
“Our team was able to win four events. We were able to beat teams from the ACC and the SEC. We’re a small college with only 2,700 students and it’s wonderful that we can play on such a high Division 1 level.
“It definitely gives me confidence to win a tournament like this. It’s reassuring that the changes I’m making are working. I want to be more of an artistic player. I’m very mechanical. Being artistic means I can incorporate more freedom and more feel into my short game and my putting. I’m hoping to rely more on feel than intellect,” Chen said.
Frazier is a rising senior at Wheeling Jesuit in West Virginia and attended Absegami High. Before Thursday, her previous low was a 2-under-par 70 during a college tournament at Lake Shore C.C. in Erie, Pa.
She has won 13 times in three years on the Division 2 college level and has twice qualified for the Division 2 nationals.
She has been working with pro Bruce Chelucci of Blue Heron Pines, “making some swing changes so I can have more distance and consistency. I’m really working hard on my short game and my putting, too.”
Maertz , a rising senior at Wagner College, won this event in 2012. Weddell is a former Rutgers University golfer.
