ORMOND BEACH (Florida) — This week’s 97th anniversary edition of the Sally Championship will be played in its current form. A field of golfers seems to get younger and more experienced each year.
The Championship Division includes 85 players from top colleges and many more from the top rungs national junior rankings. They will be taking on the unique challenges presented to them by Oceanside Country Club where the unpredictable beachside elements are always a factor.
The 72-hole stroke-play tournament, formerly known as the Women’s South Atlantic Amateur Championship, will be held Wednesday through Saturday, following Tuesday’s Member-Sally event.
Emma McMyler, a junior from Xavier University and the defending champion, is leading the charge. She won last year by a narrow margin with a total score of 1-under 287. To begin her title defense, she will tee off Wednesday morning at 10:02.
Ellen Hume won Sally Amateur to Start 2021. (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Emma McMyler won the Sally Championship last year by one shot.
Only a few of the top-10 golfers last year return to play this year, including Ohio’s Gianna Cllemente, who was last year’s number one junior. As a 14-year old, she made history by qualifying for three consecutive LPGA Tour starts via Monday qualifiers.
Kaitlyn Schroeder, a Jacksonville native, is the second-ranked junior player. She tied for fourth last year with Clemente at 2 over par in the Sally. Schroeder is enrolling at the University of Alabama this month. She was the American Junior Golf Association’s 2022 Player of the Year.
The field includes several high school golfers from nearby Daytona Beach: Amelia Cobb (Seabreeze), Riley Fletcher(Seabreeze), Vanessa Perry, (Spruce Creek), Alexandra Gazzoli (“Matanzas”).
The Orange Blossom Circuit, a group of amateur tournaments held in Florida during winter, is the source of the Sally’s past history. The past champions include Patty Berg (1938-1939) and Babe Zaharias (477) — along with some current LPGA Tour stars like Cristie Kerr and Grace Park, Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda.
Nelly Korda was the younger sister to Jessica Korda (LPGA player) during the first round at the 86th South Atlantic Amateur at Oceanside Country Club.
Golfers are able to see the forecast for the coming Sally from the 1920s through the 2020s. The week’s daily offerings for Wednesday through Saturday include temperatures ranging from the low 80s to the low 50s, dominant winds from three directions, and a chance of thunderstorms on Thursday’s second round.
Tee times are from 7:30 a.m. until noon every day.
