NEWTON, Mass – The last time 28-year-old Jacqueline Setas, of East Lansing, Mich., visited Boston, it was not a vacation and not golf-related.
Almost exactly seven years ago the insurance industry executive and scratch handicap amateur golfer was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and beginning in 2017 went through six months of chemotherapy and 15 consecutive days of radiation at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She was deemed cancer-free in 2018 and in recovery has fine tuned her golf game enough so that the Michigan State University alum made her U.S.G.A. championship debut in 2021 and has made match play in each of her four appearances.
In the 37th edition of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Brae Burn Country Club, Setas fired rounds of 72-75-147 total 3-over par to earn co-medalist honors with 26-year-old Sabrina Coffman, of Toledo, Ohio, to join the final field of 64 players in the match play portion of the prestigous national championship for women over age 25 with handicap of 4 or less.
“I’m really proud to be medalist,” said Setas. “I kind of had a special perspective coming into this week. Seven years ago on Friday, I was getting a second opinion at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. (just 8 miles down the road]. I haven’t been back to Boston since that. Even when I was getting bad breaks out there, it really wasn’t that bad for me. I am just happy to be here.”
The 144 player field was reduced to 64 and Brae Burn turned into a beast on Day 2 with an average score of 82.65, more than ten strokes above par and 2.5 strokes harder than Day 1.
Setas cruised to victory in her first match with a 4-and-3 triumph over playoff survivor Sydney Gillespie, of Highlands Ranch, Colo. In a major upset in the Round of 64, Raegan Bremer, the No. 63 seed who posted 18-over 162 during stroke play, took out co-medalist Sabrina Coffman 2 and 1. This is the second consecutive year that at least one co-medalist has been eliminated in the opening round. A year ago at Stonewall, in Elverson, Pa., top seed Courtney Dow and No. 3 seed Jessica Spicer both were eliminated, while No. 2 seed Jackie Rogowicz advanced to the semifinals.
Raegan Bremer is a three-time All-American Athletic Conference performer at the University of Houston who briefly tried professional golf before regaining her amateur status in 2021, never trailed against Coffman.
“I really didn’t realize it until the last hole to be honest,” said Bremer of beating the co-medalist. “I was just keeping my head down all day. It feels great. It’s so different nowadays. There’s no pressure. If I win or lose, I either get to stay here and play more awesome golf or I get to go home and see my husband and my two amazing dogs. So, it’s a different feeling than back in the day when a lot was riding on every tournament.”
From the 12 New England players who qualified for the tournament only 3 advanced to match play – 2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion Shannon Johnson, Tracey Martin and Megan Buck. Only Megan Buck advanced into the Round of 32. Buck, who has been Johnson’s partner in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, eliminated Ali Green 3 & 1. Shannon Johnson was ahead most of the match holding a 3-up lead through 11 holes but lost on the 19-hole to Ket Preamchuen Vanderpool. Megan Buck’s next opponent is Raegan Bremer with winner advancing to Round of 16.
Notebook
“It’s so hard, especially the first match. But there’s so many good players now and it’s really fun to see some new faces. [Kelsey and I] don’t get to see each other a lot anymore just with traveling and everything, but she’s so strong. You know she’s not going to let up either. She’s not going to give it away.” – four-time champ Meghan Stasi on beating 2017 champ/two-time runner-up Kelsey Chugg.
“I was thinking to myself to just keep playing my game. Actually, on the ninth green, I said, ‘Why don’t I try to switch my mindset from playing her to just playing the golf course again, like stroke play,’ so that’s what I tried to do.” – Alexandra Austin on her comeback win over Olivia Herrick.
“Eat lunch, and I might drink a soda because I quit soda like six months ago. Then get some practice in before tomorrow.” – Lauren Greenlief on how she would celebrate her second career ace.
“The back nine was a tough test. You never like to give up a big lead, but I did like that I was tested a bit on day one [of match play.] I got to feel some nervy putts there at the end. I made a couple of really good two-putts on No. 14 and 15 which really helped me out, so I was happy with that.” – Greenlief on 3-and-2 win over Samantha Perrotta.
“Playing Brenda, I couldn’t ask for a better competitor. Her history with the USGA, her family’s history with the USGA, her being over at the Curtis Cup and hearing about that was great. When in doubt, never count Brenda out. At one point I was 5 up and that doesn’t mean anything in match play. She came firing right back at me and played great.” – Clare Connolly on holding off two-time USGA runner-up Brenda Corrie Kuehn, 1 up.
Round 1 leader Alexandra Austin, of Fairfax, Va., who is six months pregnant, followed up her opening-round 70 with a 6-over 78. She finished stroke play T-3.
https://championships.usga.org/uswomensmidamateur/2024/scoring.html
EDITORS NOTE: Jacqueline Setas beat Krystal Quihuis (Pinehurst, N.C.) 1 up in the Round of 32. Setas beat Taryn Walker (Prospect, Ky.) 1 up in the Round of 16. She lost her match to Lauren Greenlief (Ashburn, Va.) 2 & 1 in Quarterfinals).
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