Leigh Chien of Irvine ran away with the 25th California Women’s State Championship, winning by seven strokes over Madelyn Gamble of Pleasant Hill at Ojai Valley Inn and Spa in Ojai.
The 14-year-old Chien, who also captured the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational for the second straight time recently, posted a score of 72-67-66—205, 5-under-par, while Gamble, a senior at Carondelet High in Concord, finished at 72-72-68—212.
Chien and Gamble, who won the San Ramon Match Play Championship and the Central Valley Junior Championship earlier this year, were the only two players to finish the tournament under par.
Eun Soo Jeon of La Mirada and Cal shot 72-72-69—213 to tie for third with Bibliani Liu of Mountain View, who wound up at 72-71-70—213, while Jensen Jalufka of Austin, Texas and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was fifth at 69-71-74—214, and Sienna Lyford of Roseville and UC Irvine totaled 70-74-73—217 to tie for sixth with Sarah Fouratt of Santa Maria, who finished at 69-74-74—217.
Annika Borrelli of Alamo and the University of San Francisco was eighth at 73-72-73—218, while Natalie Vo of San Jose shot 74-72-73—219 to tie for ninth with Kristie Tran (71-75-73—219) of San Jose and Cal, Elizabeth Scholtes (74-71-74—219) of Alameda and Cal Poly SLO, Brittany Shin (73-72-74—219) of Cape Coral, Fla., and Cal State Fullerton, and Madi Daniel (66-77-76—219) of Bakersfield and Cal Poly SLO.
Past winners of the California Women’s State Championship include Natalie Gulbis, Erica Blasberg, Charlotte Myorkas, Diane Irvin, Jenna Daniels, Emily Talley, Jennifer Osborn, Emily Childs, Samantha Hutchinson, Jamie Binns and Katherine Zhu of Pepperdine last year.
Lynn Cowan of Rocklin, who claimed four California Women’s Amateur Championships, shot 73-77-75—225, 12-over, to claim the Senior Division title by four strokes over Patricia Cornett of Mill Valley, won wound up at 72-80-77—229, while Shelly Haywood of Huntington Beach totaled 79-73-79—231 to tie for third with Itsuko Moridaira of Granite Bay, who finished at 73-75-83—231.
Jennifer Douglas of Granite Bay totaled 79-78-78—235 to tie for sixth with Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, who finished at 80-77-78—235, while Carol Sarkissian of Chino Hills was seventh at 77-79-81—237, followed by Tina Barker of Fairfield in eighth at 84-78-77—239.
Ran Keane of San Diego shot 81-73-76—240 to tie for ninth with Kathy Kurata of Pasadena, who finished at 84-77-79—240, and Debbie Robertson of Martinez, who came in at 82-81-77—240.
For complete results, visit https://www.amateurgolf.com/amateur-golf-tournaments/3112/California-Women-s-Championship
