37th U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship – Inside the Field

Sept. 7-12, 2024, Brae Burn Country Club, West Newton, Mass. | usga.org/womensmidam | #USWomensMidAm 

WHO’S HERE – Among the 132 golfers in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur field, there are:

Oldest Competitors: Terrill Samuel (63), Sue Wooster (62), Kelley Nittoli (61), Judith Kyrinis (60), Janet Moore (60)

Youngest Competitors: Sarah Busey (25), Blair Stockett (25), Valeria Mendizabal (25), Ashley Zagers (25), Mary McGuinness (25), Morgan Yurosek (25), Hana Ryskova (25), Caroline Ludwikowski (25), Alexandra Natale (25), Ailsa Clark (25)

Average Age of Field: 35.2

Field breakdown by age: 
Age 25-29: 47 competitors
Age 30-39: 55 competitors
Age 40-49: 17 competitors
Age 50-59: 8 competitors
Age 60-63: 5 competitors

U.S. States Represented – There are 32 states represented in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: California (11), Texas (11), North Carolina (10), Florida (8), New York (6), Pennsylvania (6), Connecticut (5), Massachusetts (5), Minnesota (5), New Jersey (5), Virginia (5), Michigan (4), Ohio (4), Colorado (3), Kansas (3), Kentucky (3), Tennessee (3), Washington (3), Georgia (2), Illinois (2), Oregon (2), Arizona (1), Idaho (1), Indiana (1), Maine (1), Maryland (1), Mississippi (1), Missouri (1), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (1), Utah (1), Wisconsin (1)

International – There are 12 countries represented in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: United States (117), Canada (4), Australia (2), Colombia (1), Czech Republic (1), France (1), Germany (1), Guatemala (1), Mexico (1), People’s Republic of China (1), Philippines (1) and Thailand (1)

USGA Champions (11): Kelsey Chugg (2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kimberly Dinh (2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Sarah Gallagher (2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Lauren Greenlief (2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kathy Hartwiger (2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Shannon Johnson (2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Ina Kim-Schaad (2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Judith Kyrinis (2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Julia Potter-Bobb (2013, 2016 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Meghan Stasi (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Shelly Stouffer (2022 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur)

USGA Runners-up (9): Talia Campbell (2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kelsey Chugg (2018 & 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Shannon Johnson (2016 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Ina Kim-Schaad (2000 U.S. Girls’ Junior), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (1995 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Judith Kyrinis (2014 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Julia Potter-Bobb (2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Terrill Samuel (2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Sue Wooster (2018, 2019 & 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)

Curtis Cup Team Members (2): Brenda Corrie Kuehn (USA, 1996, 1998), Meghan Stasi (USA, 2008; Captain: 2024)

Most U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Appearances (2024 Included): Tara Joy-Connelly (19), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (18), Meghan Stasi (18), Kathy Hartwiger (17)

Players from Massachusetts (5): Megan Buck (North Easton), Shannon Johnson (North Easton), Tara Joy-Connelly (Middleborough), Mary Mulcahy (Scituate), Claire Richardson (Milton)

Played in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (8): Megan Buck (MC), Clare Connolly (MC), Olivia Herrick (MC), Amanda Jacobs (R32), Shannon Johnson (MC), Gretchen Johnson (R32), Jessica Spicer (R32), Sarah Spicer (R32)

Played in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally (1): Kimberly Dinh (MC)

Played in the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open (9): Sarah Gallagher (T31), Kathy Hartwiger (MC), Tara Joy-Connelly (MC), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (T35), Judith Kyrinis (T31), Martha Linscott (MC), Terrill Samuel (T19, low amateur), Shelly Stouffer (T40), Sue Wooster (MC)

Played in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur (8): Kelsey Chugg (MC), Kimberly Dinh (MC), Lauren Greenlief (MC), Ina Kim-Schaad (MC), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (MC), Jackie Rogowicz (MC), Jennifer Serbin (MC), Shelly Stouffer (MC)

Played in the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Brae Burn (3): Kathy Hartwiger (R64), Tara Joy-Connelly (R32), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (R32)
 

PLAYER NOTES:

Kelsey Chugg, 33, of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur finalist after finishing runner-up last year to Kimberly Dinh. The 2017 champion owns a 18-5 match play record in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and has reached match play in all six starts. Chugg, the associate director of Salt Lake City Golf, defeated 19-year-old Ali Mulhall in the final match of the 118th Utah State Women’s Amateur in July to claim her sixth state amateur title. The former Weber State golfer also won the 2024 Amateur Golf Alliance Women's Amateur Championship at The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, Mass.  

Isabella DiLisio, 27, of Hatfield, Pa., was a semifinalist in 2022 and reached the Round of 16 last year. DiLisio, a strategic advisor for an insurance company, won the 2014 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur and finished runner-up in 2021. She was a four-year letter-winner at the University of Notre Dame, capping her career with the ninth-best stroke average in program history. Her great-grandfather, Nick Ciocca, caddied for Ben Hogan in the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion, a championship he won just 16 months from a near-fatal automobile accident.

Kimberly Dinh, 32, of Midland, Mich., became the fourth-ever left-handed female USGA champion last September when she captured the 36th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Stonewall, defeating past champion Kelsey Chugg in the final match. Dinh works as a senior research analyst at Dow Chemical. She played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin and then earned her Ph.D at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She won the 2021 Michigan Women's Amateur as the oldest player in the field and is a two-time Michigan Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (2020, 2023).

Caroline Ellington, 33, of Raleigh, N.C., is a line review director with Raleigh-based luxury golf and lifestyle brand Peter Millar. The former North Carolina State University golfer was the runner-up in the 2011 Carolinas Women’s Amateur. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Wilson College of Textiles in textile engineering. Her interest in technical product development and luxury brand management led her to Peter Millar, where she has been employed since 2014. Ellington posted a 78 for medalist honors at the Country Club of Lexington (S.C.) qualifier on Aug. 21 to earn a spot in her second U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and first since 2018.

Melanie Furuta, 43, of Long Beach, Calif., is the membership director at Virginia Country Club. Furuta is a former assistant director of Rules and competitions for the Southern California Golf Association and U.S. Girls’ Junior Committee member. The mother of three children between the ages of 4 and 10, Furuta took 13 years off from golf and didn’t return to competition until two years ago. She is competing in her fifth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, and just her second in the last 15 years after reaching the Round of 64 last year at Stonewall.

Lauren Greenlief, 33, of Ashburn, Va., won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La., and remains the youngest winner in championship history (25 years and 25 days). The managing director and partner of a Boston-based consulting group is a five-time Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA) Women’s Golfer of the Year and a member of the board of directors for the VSGA. In July, she won her third VSGA Women’s Amateur title, which earned her a spot in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club. She is competing in her ninth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and has reached the quarterfinals four times in her last five starts. In 2018, she became the first mid-amateur in 12 years to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Shannon Johnson, 41, of North Easton, Mass., is the reigning Anne Marie Tobin Women’s Player of the Year (Mass Golf), an award she has claimed five times since 2016. She won the 2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur two years after finishing as the runner-up and has competed in 22 USGA championships. Johnson played collegiately at Indiana University before becoming an equipment sales representative for Ping. Her decorated amateur career includes four South Dakota Women’s Amateur titles, the 2018 Massachusetts Women’s Amateur crown, and two New England Women’s Amateur titles. She has teamed up with her good friend and fellow North Easton resident Megan Buck to win five Massachusetts Women’s Four-Ball titles, including this year’s edition in July.

Tara Joy-Connelly, 51, of Middleborough, Mass., is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur semifinalist (2011, 2014) and is making her 19th championship start, the most of any other player in the field. In June, she captured the Massachusetts Women's Stroke Play Championship (Baker Trophy) for the eighth time. The Mass Golf Hall of Famer won the 2003 and 2013 Massachusetts Women’s Amateurs and is a record nine-time Massachusetts Player of the Year. She is one of three players in the field who competed in the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur held at Brae Burn. Joy-Connelly works as an independent sales representative and helped start the Amateur Golf Alliance (AGA) Women’s Amateur Championship five years ago. After finishing runner-up in 2023, she won the senior division of the 2024 AGA Women’s Amateur in July. Her husband, J.P., is the head golf professional at The Kittansett Club, the site of the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.

Christina Parsells, 27, of Bernardsville, N.J., won the 2024 New Jersey Women’s Mid-Amateur and is a two-time New Jersey Women’s Amateur runner-up. Parsells is a social media and content strategy consultant for multiple golf retail brands including Renwick and Tremont, and previously worked in social media for the USGA and Golf Digest. She posted a 78 at Green Book Country Club in North Caldwell, N.J., to qualify for her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Parsells, who was a four-time All-Big East Conference selection at Georgetown University, has competed in four USGA championships, including the 2015 and 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateurs, and won the 2015 North & South Junior Championship at Pinehurst.

Jennifer Peng, 28, of San Diego, Calif., was the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur medalist in 2021 and 2022 and reached the semifinals in 2022. She holds the championship record for lowest 36-hole stroke-play score (136), set in 2021 at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C. Peng played collegiate golf at Yale University where she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the conference’s Player of the Year in 2017. After graduating from Yale, Peng worked as an analyst for an investment bank in New York City before moving home to San Diego where she’s now a finance manager for a mental health support company.

Julia Potter-Bobb, 36, of Indianapolis, Ind., is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, and the USGA’s first female left-handed champion (2013). She won the last two times that the championship was contested on a golf course designed by Donald Ross: Biltmore Forest Country Club in 2013 and The Kahkwa Club in 2016. Potter-Bobb, a University of Missouri graduate, is a five-time Indiana Women’s Amateur champion and winner of the 2016 Indiana Women’s Open. She serves as the director of business operations and membership for the Indiana Golf Office and was a 2008 P.J. Boatwright Jr. intern for the Missouri Golf Association. She and her husband welcomed their first child in 2021. This will be her 11th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur start.

Claire Richardson, 36, of Milton, Mass., is a two-time Massachusetts Women’s Amateur champion, including 2012 when it was held at Brae Burn Country Club. Richardson shot a 76 at The Ridge Club in Sandwich, Mass., in July to qualify for her first USGA championship since the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. In late 2018, she and her husband moved to Sydney, Australia, for his job where they spent 5½ years before returning to Massachusetts this March. She works as a college consultant and is raising two young daughters.

Colleen Shepard, 35, of Charlotte, N.C., is an inside sales representative for the USGA’s Green Section. She earned one of three spots at the Country Club of Lexington (S.C.) on Aug. 21 to qualify for her third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Shepard, an East Carolina University graduate, won the 2013 Charleston City Amateur.

Alexie Shurtz, 28, of Lafayette, Calif., played softball and rugby in college and now works as an intensive care nurse at a hospital in St. Louis. After multiple shoulder surgeries, Shurtz switched from softball to rugby at St. Mary’s College of California then got her nursing degree from St. Louis University in 2023. She didn’t begin playing golf competitively until 2021. This championship will be just the fourth competitive golf event that she has ever played in.

Meghan Stasi, 46, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is tied with Ellen Port for the most U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles in championship history (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012). The four-time champion captained the USA Curtis Cup Team last week at Sunningdale Golf Club in England, losing to Great Britain & Ireland, 10.5-9.5. Stasi was a member of the victorious USA Curtis Cup Team in 2008 at St. Andrews (Old Course) and got engaged to now-husband Danny on the Swilcan Bridge the next day. In 2021, Stasi became the youngest player ever inducted into the Florida State Golf Association Hall of Fame. She owns 17 FSGA titles, including two Florida State Women’s Amateurs and five Florida State Women’s Mid-Amateurs. She and her husband own and operate the Shuck N’ Dive Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Courtney Stiles, 42, of Pinehurst, N.C., is the executive director of The First Tee of the Sandhills. Stiles played collegiately at North Carolina State University and spent two years on the Futures Tour before regaining her amateur status in 2009. She is competing in her 12th USGA championship and seventh U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Shelly Stouffer, 54, of Canada, was inducted into Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame earlier this year and earned a place in the field by way of winning the 2024 Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in July. Stouffer won the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Anchorage (Alaska) Golf Club, the USGA’s first championship in Alaska. She became the eighth Canadian to win a USGA championship and joined Marlene Stewart Streit (1985, 1994, 2003), Gayle Borthwick (1996, 1998) and Judith Kyrinis (2017) as Canadian winners of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. Stouffer will be making her 12th USGA championship start. She has competed in the last three U.S. Senior Women’s Opens, making the cut in 2022 (T-29) and 2024 (T-40).

Blair Stockett, 25, of Jackson, Miss., has been on the bag for a USGA championship victory and is now seeking one of her own. Stockett, the second-youngest player in the field, was a substitute caddie for Gabi Ruffels during the final match of her 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur win at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., after Ruffels’ college coach/caddie Justin Silverstein had to depart early for a funeral. Stockett was a three-year captain at Mississippi State University and is a two-time Mississippi Women’s Amateur champion. She works as an accountant for KPMG and is a relative of 1963 U.S. Women’s Open champion Mary Mills.

Alisa White, 32, of Hereford, Texas, is the senior operations manager for the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open championships. White has worked for the USGA since 2016. She played collegiately at West Texas A&M and Sam Houston State, where she earned All-Southland Conference first-team honors. This will be her fourth USGA championship and second U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (reached the Round of 64 in 2021).

Joanna Whitley, 49, of Los Gatos, Calif., shot a 74 at Marin Country Club in Novato, Calif., to qualify for her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She is a stay-at-home mom with three children between the ages of 11 and 15. Whitley, who played collegiately at Dartmouth University in the mid-late 90’s, competed on mini tours for several years post-college before regaining her amateur status in 2005. Her interest in golf has grown since moving back to the U.S. from Singapore three years ago. She now enjoys caddying for her kids in junior events in California and says some of her friends don’t even know that she plays golf.