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GUILDERLAND, N.Y. - Nina Choe continued a dominant summer winning the 96th NYS Women’s Amateur Championship at Pinehaven on Tuesday. Her final round of 67, four-under, meant a two stroke victory over Sophia Li; it was the lowest round of the tournament.  

Choe, a member of Pelham Country Club, also won the Girls’ 18U Junior Amateur earlier this month at Cavalry Club in Syracuse. She and NYSGA Hall of Fame member Dottie Pepper are the only two people to have won the Girls’ 18U Junior Amateur and the Women’s Amateur Championship in the same year.

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Choe started the final round with a one-stroke lead, which grew after birdies on holes 2 and 5. She was up by three strokes by the seventh hole, until Li birdied the seventh to narrow the lead. 

Choe made a rare bogey on eight, and an eagle hole-out on 10 by Li gave the two-time Girls’ 18U state champion the lead. Another birdie on 11 by Li meant that Choe’s three-stroke lead flipped to a two-stroke deficit. 

“We both were making birdies after birdies, it was really fun competition,” Choe said. “We had a lot of golf to play, so knowing there were some birdie chances coming up, it kept me motivated to keep pushing.”

She proceeded to birdie the 13th hole while a bogey on 14 by Li meant Choe regained the lead heading into the par 5, 15th hole. Choe found the fairway with the driver and had an eagle chance from 20 feet after a great hybrid shot. 

“Sophia had a great chip, so she had a birdie chance, and I knew I had to make this if I wanted to get up on this hole,” Choe said. “I had confidence in my putting and was able to make the putt.”

She made par on 16 after a wayward tee shot and went up-and-down from behind the green for birdie on 17, a par five. In her three rounds, Choe played holes 15-17 eight-under. She cruised to par on the 18th hole, capping off a round of four-under and securing her second NYS of the month. 

With the win, Choe gained exemption to the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Honors Course in Ooltewah Tennessee next month. It will be her first U.S. Women’s Am.

“I played a qualifier [for the U.S. Women’s Amateur] earlier this year and I missed by a couple shots so knowing I had a second chance was great,” Choe said. 

Li (MGA eClub - New York City) finished in second at three-under for the tournament. She shot 68 on the final day, the second lowest round of the championship. Yasmina Oralkhan (MGA eClub - New York City) finished in third, six-over for the tournament. Last year’s champion, Hayden Knapp (Glens Falls Country Club), finished in fourth place, nine-over. Amelie Phung (Youth on Course - MGA) was the fifth place finisher at 12-over for the championship.

In the Mid-Amateur Championship, Lauren Cupp of Yahnundasis Golf Club cruised to victory with a final round of 80. Cupp entered the day with a seven-stroke lead and never looked in danger of losing it. She was the only player in her field to avoid a double bogey on the round. 

“I really tried to keep the course in front of me,” Cupp said. “I tried to go into [today] with the mindset of making no worse than a double bogey and I thought if I could stick to that… I’d probably be holding [the trophy], ” 

The win marked Cupp’s second in the Mid-Amateur, her first coming in 2017 at Schuyler Meadows Club. That year, she won by a single stroke. Her win today was a lot more comfortable as she was eight shots clear of second place. 

“When I won in 2017, I thought that was going to be the first of many, more recently I started thinking it was going to be the only one,” Cupp said. “This feels pretty sweet.”

Former champion Samantha Schuffenecker, of Shaker Ridge Country Club, tied for second place with Kim Kaul, of East Aurora Country Club, at 18 over. MerriLyn Gibbs, of LPGA Amateur Golf Association - NYC, finished fourth at 20 over. Rounding out the top five was back-to-back defending champion, Natalie Grainger of Apawamis Club.