Terrill Samuel gets second chance to win Palm Beach County Women's Amateur Golf championship
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Terrill Samuel had two chances to win the Palm Beach County Women’s Amateur Championship on Wednesday at PGA National Resort.
The Boynton Beach resident made good use of the mulligan after somehow missing a 1-foot putt on the 18th hole of the Champion course that would have given her a one-shot victory over Sue Cohn in regulation.
The short miss left both players in shock.
But Samuel made up for her miscue by rolling in a 7-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole (the par-5 10th) to successfully defend her title in Palm Beach County’s premier women’s amateur event with a final-round 75.
“I don’t know what I did there,” Samuel said of the miss at No. 18. “I wish we had a replay, so I could see what I did wrong. I wasn’t really sure how we stood. It was a bit of a shocker, but it was fine because we’re best friends.”
In the playoff, Cohn (78) hit her approach to 12 feet, only to see Samuel hit it inside of her on a similar line. After Cohn missed her birdie try, Samuel calmly rolled in her putt to win and deny Cohn her 17th PBCWAC title.
“She kidded me before her putt by saying, ‘Close your eyes, so you don’t see,’ ” Samuel said. “For me to get a read on the last hole, that’s the luck of golf. I got the read and she didn’t.”
Both players had finished at 15-over 231 in difficult conditions. Ziqi “Amber” Gao, a freshman at Keiser University from China, was tied for the lead after an up-and-down par at the 16th hole. But Gao hit it into the water on both of her last holes and finished two back after a 77.
Cohn started the day with a three-shot lead and appeared cruising to her 17th win in the event that started in the mid-1970s. She still led by three after 13 holes, but Terrill hit her approach at the 14th hole to within inches for birdie, and Cohn bogeyed the next three holes to give Samuel a one-shot lead heading to the 18th.
“The back side, I just got a little yippy,” Cohn said. “I missed a few shots. I missed a few putts. I just wasn’t comfortable. I was shocked when she missed the putt at 18, but that’s golf and it happens to all of us.”
Samuel, a 63-year-old Canadian who spends her winters in Boynton Beach, has been on a roll lately. She won last week’s Florida State Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. She again added her name to the Larry Bush Memorial Trophy after Wednesday’s victory on the stout Champion course.
“This is such a difficult golf course,” Samuel said. “Every single hole presents some sort of challenge. It never lets up. It’s always nice to win when you’re playing good golf. I’m only sad because my friend couldn’t have won.”
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This marked the first time Cohn had played in the PBCWAC since the death of her 88-year-old father, Mel Hirsch, in January. The Palm Beach Gardens residents had combined to win numerous father-daughter titles.
“It’s hard because he’s always been there,” Cohn said. “I have nobody to report back to tonight. He would have been proud, although he probably would have been shaking his head on the back side.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach winter resident wins PBC Women's Amateur golf championship
