From State Junior to State Amateur Doerr Still at the Top; Leads NH Women's Amateur After Round One
Concord, NH – Fresh off her win at the New Hampshire Girl’s Junior Championship, June Doerr (Abenaqui CC) continues to shine, this time on a larger stage. The opening round of the New Hampshire Women’s Amateur Championship at Concord Country Club is in the books with Doerr leading the field as she fired an even-par, 70 to take the lead by a commanding six strokes. 36 holes are left to play with a strong field of competitors trailing behind her.
No stranger to seeing her name at the top of the leaderboard, Doerr came into the New Hampshire Women’s Amateur with confidence as she just captured her first New Hampshire Junior Championship title. Her round began on the 10th hole with two pars but struggled on the par-5, 12th hole with an errant tee shot going out of bounds. Settling for double bogey, she continued on and faltered again on the 14th hole with another bogey, but managed birdie on the 17th hole to make the turn at two-over par.
At the time she turned, she was one stroke back of the leader, Amy Dickison (Breakfast Hill GC), who also started on the back nine at Concord CC. Despite another bogey for Doerr on the 2nd hole, she started to turn things around with a birdie on the par-4, 3rd hole. From there, she made birdie on 5 and 6 at Concord CC to play her second nine at two-under par and even-par, 70 for the round.
Admitting that she might have still been waking up a little bit on her first nine, Doerr stated, “I miss hit a few of my tee shots which hurt me and that’s where that two-over came from but on the back nine I was able to sink some putts and get myself back in it.”
Aside from practice rounds, there is a lot of prep work that goes into putting a good round of golf together. Doerr says she spent some time with the Concord Country Club yardage to understand where not to hit the ball and how to approach certain holes. As this is a three-day championship, there is still a lot of golf left to play. Doerr talks about her gameplan saying, “Stay relaxed, I think that’s the most important especially in a three-day tournament. And try to improve, especially the back nine today was difficult, so try to improve on that tomorrow.”
While Doerr has a six-shot lead, she now has a target on her back with some strong competitors trailing that would love to close the gap in the next round. Among those competitors is Amy Dickison who shared the nine-hole lead early in the day at one-over par. Dickison struggled a little on her second nine, the front nine at Concord CC, as she made five bogeys to close out her round with a 76 (+6). Dickison is currently tied for second place with Kat Bordeau (Lochmere Golf & CC), who recently won the Women’s Team Championship with partner Dale Nims. Bordeau had three birdies on the day, but seven bogeys and one double bogey kept her to six-over par, 76 on the day. Past champion, Tara Watt (Derryfield CC) is also in the mix as she sits seven shots back of Doerr as the field heads to the second round. Watt will look to get some redemption on the course in her second round as there may be a few bogeys on the card that she would like to take back. Also tied with Watt at 77 (+7) are Eva Gonzales (Youth on Course), Mindy Inglis-Reid (Canterbury Woods CC) and Madelyn Savary (Beaver Meadow GC). All players will look to chase down Doerr as the tournament continues on.
The New Hampshire Women’s Amateur Championship is being held at Concord Country Club, August 1-3. It is a 54-hole individual stroke play championship to determine the top female amateur golfer in the Granite State. Following 18 holes of play, the field is Flighted based on Round 1 scores, with the top 16 golfers competing in the Championship Flight.
New Hampshire Women’s Amateur | Leaderboard | Round 2 Pairings & Tee Times