GENOA, NV–Ronda Henderson and Regina Quintero, representing the WSNGA, teamed up to win the 2020 Nevada State Women’s Partner tournament played July 13-14, 2020, at Genoa Lakes Golf Course. Susan Hood and Kathleen Howard, representing the NNGA, won the net division title. –by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff.
The tournament featured 36 two-women teams in four-ball play over the two days. Gross and net titles were awarded.
Gross
The Henderson-Quintero duo held a slim one-stroke lead after the first day of play. But the pair caught fire late in the second day, putting up eight birdies, including five over their final six holes, to run away with a seven-stroke victory.
The team of Janice Campbell and Lynn Greer, representing the NNGA, finished second after rounds of 70-69—139.
“We turned it around on the back,” Quintero said. “We kept parring, parring, parring holes. But on the first par-5, the 13th, we finally made a good putt and birdied a hole. Then we birdied a few more after that and really finished strong.”
The first-day lead for the Vegas duo didn’t sit well with them.
“We only had a one-shot lead over one team and a two-shot lead over two groups so we certainly weren’t running away with it,” Henderson said.
Quintero said they knew they had work to do.
“We had two team bogeys the first day,” Quintero said. “That wasn’t good. Our goal (Tuesday) was to have none. We played smart and it worked out well. We didn’t have a bogey.”
Henderson said team goals are important.
“We play frequently together and against each other,” Henderson said. “We know what each other is capable of doing on the course. We both trust each other. There’s no blaming. When one of us hit a bad shot, the other one has to step up…and we did that.”
Henderson added that the partner aspect of the tournament has to be in the back of everyone’s mind.
“We’re amateurs…we aren’t going to hit perfect shots,” Henderson said. “But we both know when it’s our job to step up. We didn’t make many too mistakes and when one of us did, the other one came through.”
In the end, Henderson put their goals into perspective.
“We had a meeting of the minds,” she said with a laugh. “We had a gameplan going in and stuck to it.”
Gross
Henderson-Quintero, 68-64—132
Campbell-Greer, 70-69—139
Pike-Stanton, 70-70—140
Atencio-Burke, 72-68—140
Smith-Booth, 69-72—141
Net
Kathleen Howard and Susan Hood, representing the NNGA, put up six net birdies over their final eight holes to win the net crown. The WSNGA team of Tammy Gephardt and Ginda Jones was second, five strokes back.
For the Howard-Hood team, the goal was simple: Have fun.
“We had a lot of fun out there,” Hood said. “There wasn’t any pressure or nerves. We had no idea how we were playing at all.”
But in the end, when the scores were added up, they wound up with the title.
“It was amazing,” Howard said. “I can’t believe that we played that well two days in a row.”
Hood said the team’s play getting to the green was the difference.
“Our drives and approaches were good,” she said. “The putting was only average. It was a lot better (Tuesday). But overall we were very consistent.”
The final nine holes proved to be the difference.
“Kathleen was just on fire today,” Hood said. “We just ham and egged it and tried to stay cool. We just took it one stroke at a time…one hole at a time.”
Howard said there was no pressure on the team.
“This was my first state tournament ever so I didn’t know any different,” she said. “We just went out there and had fun and didn’t think about any pressure.”
Net
Hood-Howard, 61-60—121
Gephardt-Jones, 61-65—126
Davin-Kidlow, 60-68—128
Hendry-Gaurano, 61-67—128
Ciorciari-Keller, 65-66—131