Alicia Kapheim Medalist At U.S. Women's Mid-amateur Qualifier
For someone who says she has been struggling, it’s been a pretty fair year for Alicia Kapheim of Pennington, N.J., the medalist at Tuesday’s sectional qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship that was played at par-72, 5,980-yard North Jersey Country Club in Wayne.
The 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur takes place October 3-8 at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La.
“I really haven’t played well this year,” said Kapheim who plays out of Hopewell Valley Country Club and was one of 10 women in the field of 23 to advance to Squire Creek.
Kapheim shot 3-ove-rpar 75, followed by Alyssa Roland of New York, a former Yale golfer, at 77, Dani Mullin of West Islip of New York at 78 and Amy Loughney of Hoboken, a former Bucknell golfer, at 79.
Three who qualified at 81 included Liza Martin-Garrubbo of Warren, Jordan Craig of Connellsville, Pa., and Patti Feldman of Sands Point, N.Y. Also qualifying were Karen Bouloucon of West Milford at 82 and Jessica Marksbury of Hoboken and Marie Bos of New York at 83. Tara Fleming of Jersey City was first alternate at 84.
“However, this will be my third USGA this summer. I also played in the first U.S. Four-Ball with Tara Fleming as my partner and we made the cut, and last week in the U.S. Senior Amateur,” said Kapheim, who will be playing in her 19thcareer USGA event at Squire Creek.
“I always prepare well for the USGA events. I do a lot of visualization. It’s a mental grind for me. I have to force myself to think positive,” Kapheim said.
This summer, Kapheim was also medalist at the U.S. Senior Amateur qualifier at Gulph Mills in King of Prussia, Pa., with an 80.
“This was a tough course, a quirky, interesting course,” she said. “The course is a lot firmer this summer. They took out a lot of trees and the course looks beautiful. I came out here trying to break 80.”
Kapheim is a native of Illinois and played on the University of Illinois golf team. Following grad school she got a job in New York in her field of architectural lighting design and has lived in New Jersey since 1986.
She has twice won the Elizabeth Goss Round Robin, conducted by the Garden State Women’s Golf Association.
