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After finishing second in the Worcester County Women’s Amateur last year, Katie Cullen was determined to win this year.
“I told my parents that I just wanted to win this year,” she said, “because it doesn’t feel great coming in second when you’re so close and you really want it. So I really wanted it this year.”
Cullen shot 75-74 last weekend at Tatnuck Country Club for a total of 3-over 149 to capture the title by three strokes.
Cullen’s victory was her first since her freshman year at St. Anselm College when she won the Keene State Invitational and shared the top spot at the Assumption Fall Invitational.
Asked where her victory at Tatnuck CC ranks among her golfing accomplishments, the 21-year-old Cullen said, “I feel like it’s pretty high.”
Erin Sullivan, who edged Cullen by two shots to win the championship last year, shared second place with Loren le Gassick. Sullivan shot 78-74-152 and le Gassick shot 76-76-152.
“I’m very happy for her,” said Sullivan, 23, of Norwood. “Obviously, I would have liked to have a better finish, but that’s OK. I’m not mad about it.”
Cullen led le Gassick by one shot entering the final round.
“I just wanted to stay calm,” Cullen said, “because I know people can come out of nowhere and go really low here. It’s a really challenging course, but the girls you play against are really good.”
Unfortunately, she bogeyed her first two holes of the final round.
“That shook me a little,” she admitted.
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A two-putt birdie on the par-5 fourth hole got her back on track and she played even par over the final 14 holes with a bogey on the par-4 10th and a birde on the par-5 16th.
Cullen said she gets nervous if she knows where she stands on the leaderboard, but over the last few holes she felt good about her chances.
“I was just excited for myself,” she said. “I felt really proud, especially after last year. Obviously, you want to win these tournaments.”
Cullen began playing on the boys’ golf team at Uxbridge High in the seventh grade and served as a captain her final two years. During the spring of her senior year, she placed 20th in the North-Central-West state sectional and was selected to the T&G Hometeam Super Team.
The 5-foot-9 Cullen attends Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., on a golf scholarship. She’ll be a senior in the fall. Cullen placed third in the Conference Carolinas Women’s Golf Championship last spring and made the All-Conference team. As a freshman at St. Anselm College, she made the Northeast-10 Conference All-Star team.
Tatnuck CC is nine holes so the golfers played the course twice, but they played different yardage the second time around.
In the final round, Sullivan used an eight-iron from 152 yards out to drive to within a foot on the par-3 sixth. The second time around, she used an eight-iron again from about four yards farther out on what was her 15th hole and she hit it to within close to a foot again.
Le Gassick, 58, of Kittansett GC in Marion has an impressive golf background. She won the Mass. Women’s Amateur in 1985 and 1986 and captured the Mass. Mother-Son Tournament the past two years with her son, Philip. So it meant something extra that she raved about Tatnuck’s layout and greens after she finished.
The highlight of Le Gassick’s tournament was chipping off the third green over a bunker and onto the nearby 7th green. Then she sank the six-foot putt for par.
“That was kind of cool,” she said.
Georgia Beland, a Webster resident who graduated from Notre Dame Academy this year, finished fourth after two rounds of 77. She was a two-time T&G Hometeam Golfer of the Year, including this season.
Vinny Papa, the 2023 champion, tied for fifth at 10 over. A record 25 golfers played in the fourth annual event.
Christine Gagner, le Gassick’s best friend, recommended that she play at Tatnuck. Gagner, 65, of North Oxford and Bedrock GC shot 74-73-147 to win the inaugural senior division for golfers aged 50 and older. If she hadn’t missed a one-foot putt for birdie on her final hole, she would have shot even par for the tournament.
“Obviously, it’s great to be the inaugural senior champion,” she said. “I kind of have a little bit of regret that I didn’t play from the regular tournament tees because I’ve been playing from them for the past couple of years and done OK.”
Seniors played from about 300 fewer yards than the 5,352 yards from which the younger golfers played.
Mary Gale finished second among the seniors with rounds of 87-80.
Princeton's Rue set for big match
Good luck to Wyatt Rue, 15, of Princeton who will compete in the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship at Trump National Doral Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla., Wednesday-Friday.
Rue shot a 1-under 70 to share second place in a qualifier at Stow Acres CC on June 13. As a freshman at St. John’s last fall, he played in every match and owned the third lowest stroke average on the team.
Story ideas welcome
You can suggest story ideas for this golf column by reaching me at the email listed below. Comments are also welcomed.
—Contact Bill Doyle at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'I really wanted it this year': Cullen wins Worcester County Amateur
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