Greg Johnson- Photo and Story
ROCHESTER – Bridget Boczar of Canton has been playing in the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship since her early years in junior golf, and this year she had a feeling.
“To finally win is really great,” she said after topping Lauren Timpf of Macomb 2-up in the final match of the 110th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland Friday at Oakland University Golf & Learning Center.
“I had a feeling about this week because I was playing pretty good this summer.”
Boczar, who is 22 and recently completed her college golf career at Baylor University and will graduate in December with degrees in math and philosophy, made the golf numbers work for her in a tight, well-played final match against the 19-year-old Timpf, who will be a junior for the Purdue University golf team.
Timpf, the stroke-play medalist and top seed for match play, said Boczar simply had a better golf game in the final match.
“I wasn’t hitting it close enough, I guess overall I wasn’t as sharp as I was earlier in the week,” she said. “She had better looks at birdie than I did, and she made a few more than I did. She’s really an amazing player and a great putter. I expected all of her putts to go in.”
Boczar, whose name will be inscribed on the historic Patti Shook-Boice Trophy, said she felt she was in control of her golf ball through the final match.
“The pins were tough today, so sometimes it was really just about making par,” she said. “Earlier in the week, you know, I shot 6-under in the first round and it was easy to make birdies. They were easier pins and there was less wind. Today, the conditions were just tough. I really felt like I made a lot of quality golf shots.”
Boczar also had a close match in the morning semifinal. She made a critical birdie on hole 16 and held off Elise Fennell of Kentwood and Central Michigan University, 1-up. Fennell, in the final four for three consecutive years, fell to the eventual champion for the third consecutive year.
In the other semifinal, Timpf had a slim lead for the final 12 holes of her 2 and 1 win over Grace Slocum of Traverse City and the University of Wisconsin.
The championship match was also tight from the start, and both players were under par in the end (Boczar 3-under, Timpf 2-under).
Neither player had more than a 1-up lead through the first 17 holes. Timpf made consecutive birdies on holes 11 and 12 to take a 1-up lead, but then Boczar won 13 with a par and 14 with a birdie to take a 1-up lead. They traded pars on 15, 16 and 17, and then Boczar closed it out with a 10-foot birdie putt on 18.
Boczar, a two-time GAM Women’s Champion who played her first two years of college golf at Oakland University, said familiarity with the course helped.
“I was able to be confident and come out here and have some fun,” she said. “My brother Jack caddied for me today. My sister Grace was her yesterday. My mom (Roxanne) was out here every day. I had great support. It was just an awesome week.”
She is next headed to the U.S. Women’s Amateur and then back to Baylor to finish her education.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do once I have my degrees, but golf will always be part of what I do as either a professional or an amateur,” she said.
