Canton’s Bridget Boczar Sets Pace on Katke-Cousins Course at Oakland University
ROCHESTER – Bridget Boczar of Canton was surprised by some recent tree removal and tee box changes on the Katke-Cousins Course at Oakland University’s Golf & Learning Center, but not so surprisingly she shot a 6-under 66 to lead after the first round Monday of the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland.
“So, a lot of my day I was like, ‘wow, I can’t believe those trees are gone, and oh my gosh I can’t believe this new tee box, I’ve never played from here before,’” said the Baylor University golfer who played her first two years of college golf for Oakland University and is a two-time GAM Women’s Champion.
“It was interesting and 6-under is one of my better rounds on this course, for sure. Nothing spectacular. A lot of my approach shots were close, and I made the birdie putts. It was a good start to the week.”
Boczar, 22 and graduating in December, was closely followed by two Big Ten Conference golfers.
Traverse City’s Grace Slocum, who plays at the University of Wisconsin, shot 67 and Macomb’s Lauren Timpf, who plays at Purdue University, shot 68.
Ashleigh Duflo of Ada, a University of Findlay and NCAA Division II All-American, was the only other golfer under par with a 71.
Sophie Stevens of Highland and the University of Florida shot even-par 72 and Olivia Stoll of Haslett, a former Grand Valley State University golfer, shot 73.
The field of 84 golfers will play another round of stroke play Tuesday to determine the 32 golfers who make up the match play bracket. The round of 32 is Wednesday, the round of 16 and quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday and semifinals and the final match will be on Friday.
Boczar’s bogey-free 66 included a 4-under 32 on the front nine put her in the best position to claim medalist honors on Tuesday, but she said medalist wasn’t her goal at the start of the week.
“At the end of the day, it goes to match play, and the winner of the match play is the Michigan Women’s Amateur champion,” she said. “Medalist would just be the cherry on top.”
Slocum, too, played without a bogey for the round and finished with a flurry of three consecutive birdies on holes 16, 17 and 18.
“It feels really good to shoot 5-under,” said the 19-year-old who will be a sophomore for the Badgers in the fall. “I’ve been working on a lot of technical things with my swing lately but just played a lot the last few days. It’s good to finally feel confident again.”
Slocum, who won the GAM Women’s Championship last month, said her plan was to have as high of a seed as possible after match play.
“That would set me up confidence-wise to just have fun the rest of the week,” she said. “Medalist is always kind of in the back of your head, especially when you shoot 5-under, but I just want to have a solid round tomorrow and keep my game rolling.”
Timpf, 19 and headed back to Purdue for her junior year, had four birdies, two bogeys and a highlight eagle 2 on the par 4 11th in her 68.
“I hit 3-wood to get down there for a good wedge yardage, and I hit it and saw the first big hop,” she said of the eagle 2. “We couldn’t see the bottom of the pin, but Mrs. Boczar told us it went in.”
Duflo, 20 and headed back to Findlay this fall for her senior season, made bogey on her first hole of the day (No. 10), but said she kept moving forward.
“I still had a lot of golf to play, so I just stayed steady and made some birdies and my back nine was kind of boring, but consistent overall,” she said. “I like the course. It’s in great shape and I’m a good ball-striker so I think that helps me here. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”
