Sacramento, CA – On a stunningly beautiful late spring day today, some of the finest women golfers from around Northern California- and well beyond- descended on the MacKenzie GC at Haggin Oaks for the first day of play for the very first annual 2021 Sacramento Valley Women’s Amateur Championship. Fine players from local amateur ranks, collegiate competitors (from around the world) and some of Sacramento’s finest local juniors teed it up to test their mettle against fellow players. The SVWA is designed for the “Top Women Amateur Golfers in the West” and is open to female amateur golfers with handicap indexes not exceeding 9.4.. Co-hosted by the Sacramento Golf Council and the team at Haggin Oaks, the inaugural SVWA will be held over two days on Saturday & Sunday, June 12th & 13th, 2021.
The early returns on the golf course were decidedly “worldly.” Menlo College’s Dagmar “Dasa” Urbankova jumped out to a lead early in the day of play. The Czech Republic-born Sports Management major birdied two of her first three holes to go -2 early in her first round. Keeping with that International flair, Kesaree “Pearl” Rojanapeansatith hails from Bangkok, Thailand and just finished her senior year at the University of San Francisco with an Entrepreneurship and Innovation major. She also got out of the gates fast with an under par start. Local Bear River HS 16-year-old and local First Tee Junior Tour player Theresa Shaw hails from Ensenada, Mexico and contributed her incredible talent with an early race under par as well. With a late charge, Kolkata, India-born Gurman Kaur-Knight offset a couple of early bogeys with an eagle on #11 to get into red numbers herself. Kaur-Knight just finished her senior year at William Jessup University as the GSAC Player of the Year and named as a NAIA All-American.
A native of San Jose, Calif., TCU’s Senior Sabrina Iqbal is a two-time AJGA champion and four-time Northern California Junior Golf Association Women’s Player of the Year. She also raced out to an early under-par start. Not to be outdone, Vacaville-native and current Dominican University Junior Alissa Salazar birdied #4 out of the gate to get into red numbers as well.
14-year-old and incoming high school sophomore Darla May Dela Torre played well beyond her years with a final score of even par after making birdie on the final hole. Dela Torre, fresh off her appearance in the USGA National Women’s Four-Ball Championship, hails from Fairfield and is a Morton Golf Foundation kid.
Local prep Granite Bay HS rock star Ellie Bushnell finished another stroke back with a +1 score of 73.
But it was only Dasa Urbankova that was able to keep her score in the red numbers as the MacKenzie GC proved tough on that back nine and watched the entire field slide back as the day progressed. Urbankova finished at -2 with an outstanding score of 70 that featured five birdies.
Rojanapeansatith ended up tying with Dela Torre at even par and then Bushnell, Kiran Sangha, Shaw, Iqbal and Kaur-Knight all finished at +1 with 73’s.
All first-round scores can be seen HERE. The second round of play concludes tomorrow, Sunday the 13th. Early players tee off around 7am with leaders going off around 10:30a. Gallery is welcome and encouraged to attend and there is no cost.
