PREVIEW: 99th Women’s Amateur & 11th Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships at Watchung Valley Golf Club
Watchung Valley Golf Club Hosts the New Jersey Women’s Amateur & Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships for the First Time in NJSGA History
WATCHUNG, N.J. - The New Jersey State Golf Association is headed to Watchung Valley Golf Club for the 99th Women’s Amateur Championship and the 11th Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, which will be conducted from June 24-27.
Serving as an official USGA Exemption Event, the champion of the 99th New Jersey Women's Amateur will recieve an exemption into the 124th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.
Both events will run simultaneously, however, the 99th Women’s Amateur Champion will be determined after a test of both stroke play and match play formats, while the 11th Women's Mid-Amateur Championship will consist of two rounds of stroke play.
A longstanding history, Watchung Valley has been a mainstay in the New Jersey golf community for nearly 100 years.
Formerly The Park Club, Park Golf Club, Hydewood Country Club and Twin Brooks Country Club, the golf course was originally designed by Tom Bendelow. Park Golf Club.
Forced to relocate due to the construction of Route 22 in the 1920’s, the club purchased a dairy farm near the Ridgeline of the Second Watching Mountain. Seth Raynor was then hired to design the course, but his passing required a change of plans and the club hired Plainfield Country Club’s professional Marty O’Loughlin to complete the project. The first nine holes opened in 1927 and the second nine followed in 1929. Throughout the Great Depression and World War II, the club pushed through and was eventually purchased by David Cronheim in 1943. Since then, the course has evolved and thrived, undergoing multiple renovations, and most recently, a total restoration in the late 2010’s. Overall, the NJSGA has hosted over 15 championships at the club.
Spectators are encouraged to attend, and admission throughout the event is free of charge. Use of golf carts for spectators are not permitted.
PLAYER NOTES
A collection of notable players in the 99th Women’s Amateur Championship:
Aphrodite Deng, 14, is coming off a victory at the 70th New Jersey Junior Girls’ Championship on June 19. With the win, Deng earned a trip to the U.S. Girls’ Junior in California. She’ll be making her first appearance in the New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championship. In the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), Deng checks in at No. 175.
Ami Gianchandani, 25, is the defending champion and two-time champion of the New Jersey Women’s Amateur. A Watchung Valley GC member, Gianchandani is coming off back-to-back top-5 finishes in the last two weeks. Ranked 357th in the WAGR, Gianchandani finished in fourth at the Women’s Met Am and third in the Women’s Eastern Amateur Championship. In 2023, Gianchandani finished as the low amateur in the Inaugural New Jersey Women’s Open Championship.
Katie Li, 19, the highest WAGR ranked player in the field checking in at 104, Li is coming off an appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. The Basking Ridge native turned in a successful freshman season competing for Duke University. An All-ACC selection, Li finished the 2023-24 season with one victory and three top-20 finishes.
Samantha Perrotta, 34, is fresh off a win at the Women’s Met Amateur contested at Nassau Country Club. A three-time New Jersey Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (2018, 20, 22), Perrotta is looking to regain the title after finishing as runner-up in 2023.
Alyssa Roland, 35, is making her first appearance in a New Jersey Women’s Amateur or Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. In 2023, Roland made a run at the 37th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, advancing to the Round of 16 at Stonewall Golf Course in Pennsylvania.
Angelina Tolentino, 17, is headed to Vanderbilt University in the fall. Finishing fourth in the 2023 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Championship, Tolentino will be competing in her first New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championship.
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