Corina Kelepouris of La Quinta captured the 2022 Women’s California State Open, a Southern California PGA event, by five strokes over amateur Napua Glossner of San Diego on the Legends Course at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad.
The 34-year-old Kelepouris, a native of Canada, posted a score of 68-73—141, 3-under-par, while Glossner, who is a junior at Kansas State, finished at 70-76—146, and Cameron March of Los Angeles and Washington State shot 72-76—148 to tie for third with Libby Fleming of Escondido and Texas Tech, who wound up at 73-75—148.
“I’ve been putting pretty well this week and a few dropped in, plus when I did miss the green, my short game was working well,” said Kelepouris, who formerly played on the CN Canadian Women’s Golf Tour. “Fortunately, things went my way, and I feel relieved to secure this win.
“I want to thank everybody back at The Palms (Golf Club in La Quinta) and my family for supporting me out here. … It’s been a while since I’ve been in this position, as it is only my third tournament in the last 14 years. I will say there was hardly any sleep last night, just pure stress coming into the final round.”
Kelepouris made five birdies in her opening 68 and stayed well out in front down the stretch in round two by putting up seven consecutive pars.
Maiya Tanaka of Cardiff by the Sea posted a score of 78-71—149 to tie for fifth with Megan Royal of Carlsbad, who finished at 76-73—149, Tori Peers of Pahrump, Nev., who finished at 73-76—149, and Jordyn Parr of Temecula and San Jose State, who also wound up at 73-76—149.
Natalie Vivaldi of Oceanside, who plays at San Diego State, totaled 74-77—151 to tie for ninth with Veronica Felibert of Seal Beach, who came in at 72-79—151.
Previous winners of the Women’s California State open include Alyaa Abdulghany (2016), Brianna Do (2017) and Haley Moore (2019).
For complete results, visithttps://scpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scpga22/event/scpga2288/contest/9/leaderboard.htm
