The Woodlawn Women's Golf Classic was staged under cloudy skies, damp conditions and high winds, but the conditions did not deter the ultimate winner, Diane Thull, who toured the facilities using just 84 strokes to claim the title for a second straight year. "I guess I play all right under bad conditions," she said with a laugh, recalling last year's event that was also held under extreme weather conditions. "In fact I think for last year's tournament the weather was even worse than today," she said. Last year her score of 89 was good enough for the win, while an 89 this year earned a second place finish for Tonaya Marr who felt she left more than a few strokes out on the course thanks in large part to an unco-operative putter. "I just couldn't get the putter working today. I could count at least five or six shots I left out there on the front nine" she said. For Thull, the biggest challenge came on the fourth hole (or her 13th since she teed off on the 10th hole in the two-stage start format). "I got into big time trouble there, found the sand twice. When you hit bunkers twice in one hole, you have trouble," she said with a smile. Thull said she has had to learn to simply disregard the wind, at least in terms of matching her competition. "It's the same for everybody, so you compensate," she said. She managed to dismiss her troubles on that hole and refocused on the task at hand which was to finish the last five holes without any major mishaps.Thull said she was pleased with her back nine performance, which was her opening nine, which made the trouble on the fourth hole a little more manageable since by then she knew she was dealing with a pretty decent round of golf once she got through that adversity. This year's tournament was held as a flight competition as well as a four-woman scramble for those not interested in contesting for the championship. The scramble foursome with the best score of 77 based on a count back was the team consisting of Denise and Melanie Fonstad along with Delha Ng and Rose Rondeau. They edged out the team of Jeanne Biette, Jo-Anne Dukart, Sharon McClelland and Corinne Kuntz. Chasing Thull and Marr in the championship flight were Kristine Schlamp who carded a 93 while Fern Walton and Linda Murphy carded 95s to claim fourth and fifth spot respectively on the countback system. The first flight was won by Erin Farr with a score of 107, the same score recorded by Cindy Mack but Farr gained the edge, again using the countback. Darlene Duce, Lang Bily and Danita Bjorndalen took the third to fifth positions. Twenty-three of the 59 golfers competed for the championship with nine teams involved in the scramble.
