Girls' trio offers many thrills

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
June 27, 2002
Unless you were at Briarwood Country Club Wednesday, you won't get to see any highlights of the final round of the Mississippi Women's Golf Association Junior Girls State Amateur and even if you were in attendance, you probably still don't believe what you saw.
Playing in the 16-18 year old championship flight, Amanda Mathis of Picayune, Alexis Rather of Tupelo, and Leigh Phillips of Meridian combined for 19 birdies and one eagle. They pummeled the par-5s into submission as the trio was collectively 12-under par on those six holes. They combined to go 4-under on No. 14 alone as Phillips had a eagle to go with birdies by Mathis and Rather.
And that still wasn't the group's biggest highlight. They saved that for last. Playing their second shots on the par-4, 319-yard, 18th hole, the first approach shot hit six feet from the pin. In true Robin Hood fashion, the second ball lands just inches inside the first. Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get better, it did as Mathis left her shot within two feet of the cup.
Mathis won the tournament with a two-day score of 137, 11-under par. Rather was second at 147, 1-under, and Phillips was third at 152, 4-over. Two-time defending champion Katherine Jones of Jackson skipped this year's tournament, but that quartet has quite a future ahead of it.
While college coaches at NCAA schools aren't allowed to comment on athletes for publication once they enter the ninth grade, it spoke volumes that the women's coaches from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and USM were all here during the two-day tournament.
It'll make quite a challenge for either Hart or Gallagher to win their 10th state am.