Marcela Leon Earns Top Qualifier at Lake Merced Golf Club Sectional For The 2001 U.S. Women's Open Championship.
Leon's shoots an even par 72 Monday afternoon.
Daly City, Calif. (May 9)--Marcela Leon, nearing completion of her third season as a member of the San Jose State University women's golf team, was the medalist and top qualifier at Lake Merced Golf Club sectional for the 2001 U.S. Women's Open Championship.
Leon's even par 72 Monday afternoon included birdie putts of 10 feet on #5 and 20 feet on the par 5 sixth hole and bogeys on the par 3 eighth hole and par 5 13th hole.
I was so focused at the end of the round and I waited for three hours (for the other players to finish). I was drained, said Leon, who was second at 2001 WAC Championships in Broken Arrow, Okla. One of my plans for this year was to qualify for the U.S. Open and I accomplished it. When asked if earning a spot in the U.S. Open as an amateur was her biggest accomplishment in her young career, the junior from Monterrey, Mexico had a tough time matching her feats one against another.
I cannot compare my accomplishments. Winning the Mexican Junior National Championship was a big moment for me. Every tournament has a meaning, she added.
A former Spartan, Nicole Materne, whose four seasons included playing on the 1992 San Jose State NCAA Championship-winning team as a freshman, finished one shot behind Leon with a 73 to garner one of the three other spots at the Lake Merced qualifier.
Between May 7 and May 15, 88 players from 11 sectional qualifying sites will join 62 exempted players for the 2001 U.S. Women's Open championship that takes place May 31-June 3, in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Former Spartans exempted from qualifying and scheduled to participate include 1999 champion Juli Inkster, Dina Ammaccapane, Pat Hurst and Janice Moodie.
Leon possibly will have plenty of golf the next 30 days beginning competition with the Spartans Thursday, May 10, at the NCAA East Regional Championships. If San Jose State finishes among the top eight teams in the 21-team field, the team advances to the 72-hole NCAA Championships, May 22-25, held in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. If the Spartans as a team or Leon as an individual entry reaches the NCAA Championships, she will fly cross country twice in an eight-day period to play in these three tournaments.
The 2001 second-team All-WAC selection is the first Spartan golfer since Tracy Hanson in 1991 to qualify for a U.S. Open Women's Golf Championship while a member of the San Jose State team.