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Pano Wins Third Doherty Title In Four Years

When teenager Alexa Pano tees off in next year’s Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship at Coral Ridge Country Club, she will be a two-time defending champ and hopes to drive to the tournament.

The 15-year-old from Lake Worth is right at home at the Fort Lauderdale course. She won the Amateur First Flight title at age 8 and now has won the Women’s Amateur Championship three times in the past four years.

“It is definitely very special to me knowing that everyone has been coming here for so long,” said Pano, a home-schooled sophomore who has won 69 national and international tournaments already. “It definitely feels like a huge home event and I love returning to the Doherty every year. I am super comfortable here.”
Pano successfully defended her title with a 4-and-3 victory over Courtney McKim of Raleigh, N.C., in blustery and rainy conditions. McKim, 29, was a member of the University of Alabama’s national championship team in 2012.

The two dueled closely out of the gate, with Pano taking a 1-up lead on the ninth hole with what she called her best shot of the day.

“It’s one I will never forget,” Pano said.

“The goal is to win (the Augusta National Women’s Amateur) this year, but I am just excited to be going back.”

Alexa Pano

Her tee shot landed in a bush and she had to take a one-shot penalty for an unplayable lie. She then hit a 3-wood 225 yards to within 4 feet of the pin. McKim missed a par putt and Pano sunk her shot to break the tie. She then won the next two holes before dropping the Par-3 12th when her tee shot plugged in a bunker. She rallied to win the next two holes to go 4-up and then closed out the match with a par.

“She played an unbelievable shot after taking an unplayable,” McKim said. “Hats off to her on that. That’s just crazy good.”

Said Pano: “It is always a good experience coming here because you are competing against all types of amateurs and it is also match-play, which you don’t see a lot of throughout the year. It is definitely a good test to begin the year.”

Pano, who lost in the 2018 final to Meghan Stasi, also learned just before the 88th annual Doherty that she had been accepted to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament for a second straight year. When she arrived home after finishing as runner-up in the Women’s South Atlantic Amateur Golf Championship for a second consecutive year, she found the letter from Augusta.

“I am really excited about that,” said Pano, who missed the cut by one stroke last year. “It’s awesome. Last year was such a surreal experience. It was the best tournament of my life so far, and being able to go back this year is just incredible. I am just going to soak it all up because not everybody gets a chance to experience it. The goal is to win it this year, but I am just excited to be going back.”

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