By Mark Gregory
Sports Editor
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
When the 118th Women’s Western Golf Association Amateur Championship gets underway at Romeoville’s Mistwood Golf Club, it will do so with representatives from 25 different states and seven foreign countries.
Not to be lost, however, are the 29 players from Illinois – including five from the Voyager Media coverage area.
Lauren Beaudreau is one of five Voyager Media area golfers playing in the Women’s Western Gofl Association Amateur at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville.
The tournament will feature a pair of Bolinbrook residents in Jessica Yuen and Abby Bitto.
Yuen, who recently finished her sophomore season at the University of Missouri, has all but made Mistwood her home course over the years, working with several of the instructors.
“This is like my home course. I have played here a lot,” Yuen said. “I know the greens really well. Kelpie’s Corner (holes 14-17) will be the toughest and as long as I shoot par or better there, I should be OK.”
She said she will not have added pressure to perform well because she knows the course.
“I will take this as a confidence booster,” Yuen said. “This is so much more relaxed (than college). I am very familiar with this course, so I know how to play well – what to do and what not to do. At the end of the day, if I don’t play well, I will know what I need to do to improve my game.
Yuen, a Neuqua Valley graduate, had four top-two finishes in high school and winning state twice.
While at Missouri, she was a 2017 NCAA regional qualifier as an individual.
Joining Yuen will be Abby Bitto, a Bolingbrook resident and graduate of Benet Academy.
She played last season at the University of Dayton where, as a freshman, she carded her season-low 81 at Northern Kentucky Collegiate Classic, finish 49th.
While at Benet, she was a three-time All-East Suburban Catholic Conference golfer, helping Benet to an ESCC Championship title and a seventh-place finish in the state tournament in 2016.
Bitto is not the only golfer representing the Redwings this week.
Joining her will be three of her teammates from the 2016 Benet team that placed seventh in state.
Isabella Abdullah just finished her freshman season at Elon University in North Carolina.
The two graduates will be with a pair of incoming seniors in Caroline Wing and Lauren Beaudreau.
Wing was a sectional qualifier last season, while Beaudreau took the year off of playing high school golf to play in the Swinging Skirts American Junior Golf Association Invitational in California, There she tied for 28th with a 54-hole score of 12-over-par 228.
As a freshman at Benet, Beaudreau placed fourth at the Class AA state meet and missed winning a state title by one stroke as a sophomore, finishing second to Lincoln-Way Central sophomore Grace Curran, who is also participating in the WWGA Amateur.
She is looking forward to playing against a challenging field.
“I played the Western Junior a couple of years ago and I had a really great experience and when I saw the amateur was at Mistwood and was only 25 minutes from my house, it was a super easy decision,” said Beaudreau, who is verbally committed to play at Notre Dame. “I love this golf course and it is a great tournament field and I am really excited to be playing with some really great players. Mistwood is a very challenging course and I think it sets up well fro my game.
“My goal is to make the cut and after that it is match play and anything can happen.”
After her hiatus, Beaudreau said she plans on returning to play for Benet this fall.
“I am playing high school golf this season and my goal is to win the state title,” she said. “It is really nice to see where my game stacks with some of the best and it is a lot of confidence going back to high school.”