Colorado's Mason rallies to win Women's Western Junior in sudden-death

Writing from Frankfort, Illinois

Friday, June 24, 2022

Jessica Mason didn’t think she made the putt. The putt that won the title in the 95th Women’s Western Junior in 19 holes and thus the right to hold the L.B. Icely Trophy, emblematic of victory in the world’s oldest women’s junior championship.

Small wonder the Coloradan’s knees buckled briefly. Her 25-footer on the first green at Prestwick Country Club was a swinging right to left excursion. Lisa Copeland of Naperville had already rolled her 33-footer close enough for a conceded par.

This one, with about five feet of borrow, had to be close as well to force a second extra hole.

How about in? How about over?

The gallery of about two dozen members cheered it even before Mason could begin walking to the cup. In it was, her third birdie of the championship match capturing for her a crown that counts Nancy Lopez – three times, including at Prestwick 50 years ago – Grace Park and Christie Kerr among the owners.

“My caddie Michael (from Prestwick) told me there was a little spot on the green that was a little darker, and I should hit it there,” Mason said. “I did and it broke right in. As it was heading there I was like, ‘Oh my god, this has a chance.’ If I hit it hard enough, it’s in.

“This is insane. I really didn’t think I was going to make that putt.”

Speaking of insane, her longest made putt of the week was the one that won the championship on a steamy, windless afternoon. And Michael, now the toast of the caddie barn, was only her caddie because her older brother Jacob begged off on making the trip to Chicago. Big brother may be fired by now.

“I did not know I was going to get this far,” Mason said, calling herself speechless. “Last summer was the last time I won something big, the Colorado Junior PGA.”

Copeland, who was in this spring’s Drive, Chip and Putt championship at Augusta National and was low amateur in the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Stonebridge Country Club, still managed to smile after the match.

“I never really expected to make it to the final,” said Copeland, who starts high school in the fall but already dreams of Stanford. “I wanted to give myself a chance to win, but I wasn’t too worried about the result. My lag putting wasn’t going so well, but I kept focusing on the next shot."

Mason, an 18-year-old from Westminster, Colo., headed for Pomona College in California in the fall, will be majoring in molecular biology. Based on how well that last putt and others tracked, she could minor in topography as well. A bigger hitter than Copeland, who turned 14 earlier in the month, she took advantage of more lofted irons in to have shorter putts most of the round.

That, though, only gave her a slight edge on Copeland, whose determination and accuracy off the tee – she hit all 15 fairways across 19 holes compared to Mason’s nine – allowed her to keep the ball in play. Copeland was 1-up through seven holes, but Mason won three of the next four holes to go 2-up through 11. When Mason strung together four straight 5s, Copeland made four straight pars, including a two-putt par from 35 feet on the par-4 16th, and was again 1 up.

They traded pars on the 154-yard par-3 17th, Copeland just missing a putt to win the title, and it was off to the 18th tee. Copeland hit the left side of the fairway but was blocked by trees on the 58-year-old Larry Packard design, while Mason was in the middle of the fairway on the 398-yard uphill hole.

“Eighteen’s a long hole for me anyway,” Copeland said. “I can’t really reach it in two unless I hit two good shots, so I wasn’t too worried with the drive. I just had to punch out and get an up-and-down.”

Copeland laid up, then wedged to 14 feet. Mason bounced her approach into the light rough behind the green, chipping to a foot to make par. Copeland had a 14-footer for a par save to win but again just missed, and it was off to the first tee and unscheduled golf.

“I won three matches (on the 18th),” Mason said. “I knew this could be my hole. Obviously it was.”

Then came the best of the birdies, and it was over with a fist pump from Mason and a consolation hug for Copeland. 

In the morning semifinals, Mason beat medalist Addison Klonowski of Naples, Fla., 1 up, while Copeland knocked off Audrey Rischer of Columbia., Mo., 2 and 1. Mason also won her Sweet Sixteen match on the 18th green.

She is a worthy winner in a list that goes back over a century, a list where the kid from Roswell, N.M., with the hitch in her swing who triumphed at Prestwick stands out.

“I knew who Nancy Lopez was, obviously a great player on the tour and stuff,” Mason said. “It’s kind of cool that I can share this with her, have my name on the same trophy with her.”

Western Junior: Thursday’s double-round finale in the 104th Western Junior at Naperville Country Club wasn’t enough for Eduardo Derbez Torres and Camden Smith. They went to sudden-death after tying at 8-under 280, and Smith, who waited some 90 minutes for Torres to finish, fell to the the 16-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico.

Smith was four behind Derbez Torres at one point, but Derbez Torres squandered shots down the stretch and had to make an 8-foot par putt to force sudden death. He did, then made birdie from the front green side bunker on the first extra hole, the par-4 18th, to capture the title.

“I just tried to breathe two or three times and tried to relax,” Derbez Torres said of his ordeal on the final few holes. “Really nervous.”

Derbez Torres, 16, opened with a course-record-tying 6-under-par 66 in Tuesday’s first round and finished with a 74, while Smith, from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. and headed for Mississippi State, closed with a 66 of his own, then hung around to see with Derbez Torres would do.

He did just enough to get into the playoff, and more than enough to win.

– Tim Cronin