There’s something different about former Baylor School golfer Brooke Pancake’s ball-striking these days. However, there’s nothing different about her seemingly putting for birdie on every hole.
For the second consecutive day Pancake wrapped up her match relatively quickly Wednesday at the Lookout Mountain Golf Club and has advanced to today’s quarterfinal match-play round in the championship flight in the Women’s Southern Amateur golf tournament.
Mary Alice Murphy, who was a senior at GPS during the 2009 fall season, is also among the eight remaining golfers in the championship flight.
Corinna Rees, from Fayetteville, Ark., will play Dawn Woodard, from Greer, S.C., in the flight’s first quarterfinal today set to start at 8:36 a.m. Kendall Wright, from Suwanee, Ga., and Abby Johnson, from Braselton, Ga., are scheduled for 8:45. The winners will play in a semifinal set for 1:48 p.m.
Ashley Lance, from Franklin, Tenn., beat Soddy-Daisy High School’s Haley Cothran 4 and 2 and will be Pancake’s quarterfinal opponent in a match slated to begin at 8:54. Murphy and Dallas’s Carolyn Creekmore have a 9:03 tee time, and the winners of those matches are scheduled to meet in a semifinal at 1:56.
The competition concludes Friday with the final in the Championship Flight scheduled for 36 holes starting at 8 a.m.
Pancake is among the many college golfers that entered the tournament. She recently completed her sophomore season at the University of Alabama.
“I haven’t played the golf course since high school,” Pancake said of Lookout Mountain. “My game’s a little different now than it was a few years back.
“I have a different flight pattern on my ball than I did in high school. I’m longer than I was. Not a ton, but I am a little longer.”
Pancake said there’s potential to find trouble at the course with the length of her tee shots now. That’s something she didn’t have to concern herself with when she was in high school.
“It took me a little while to figure it out,” Pancake said.
She should try convincing her opponents. Pancake defeated Anna Hancock, from Lakeland, Fla., 5 and 4 on Wednesday after she had won her match Tuesday 7 and 6.
With the help of birdies at Nos. 11 and 14, Murphy defeated Janine Fellows, from Houston, Texas, 3 and 2 to get to the round of eight.
“Luckily my putting was back today,” said Murphy, who credited a lesson between Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s rounds from her uncle, Stewart Lawwill. “I’m back feeling comfortable standing over the ball. I was hitting the ball too hard for these greens.”