Keeping her focus down the closing stretch has been a hurdle recently for Lilly Thomas. That was decidedly not the case, however, at Country Club of St. Albans in St. Louis this week.
Thomas, who is entering her junior year at Tulsa, played the 18th hole four times over the course of three days at the Ladies National Golf Association Amateur. She birdied it twice in regulation and, maybe most importantly, a third time in sudden death.
The final birdie in regulation was key in getting Thomas into a playoff with Michigan senior Ashley Lau, who took an early lead at St. Albans with an opening 67. Thomas drained a 35-footer – downhill, over a ridge – on the first playoff hole to put it away.
“I had just seen the putt,” she said. “My playing partner, when we played 18 just before – got a little read on her.”
Scores: LNGA Amateur
Thomas, a native of Bentonville, Arkansas, has been on the road the past three weeks. She had close calls at both the North & South Women’s Amateur and the Women’s Western Amateur, two match-play events that draw stout fields.
“This is my third week in a row of pretty high-level golf,” she said. “I missed the cut at the North & South by one stroke and I missed the cut at the Western by one stroke. I think I had some work to do, I was a little frustrated on the inside with my play in the last two weeks.”
Thomas identified the lapse as coming toward the end of rounds. At Pinehurst No. 2 for the North & South, she was 2 under entering the final two holes and finished with a pair of bogeys.
“The main difference was having confidence through the least three holes and ramping up my focus,” she said of her play at St. Albans.
A call to swing coach Ted Tryba helped her arrive at that realization, and Thomas finished with gusto at the LNGA Am. She assured herself a final spot in the final group with a second-round 66 that included seven birdies. A final-round 74 left her at 6 under, tied with Lau.
The LNGA win was made it sweeter because of the support system around her there to see it. After seeing her land on the bubble in two previous events, Thomas felt some validation in her family seeing her get it done this time.
Thomas ranks it as a top-3 golf moment.
“It can’t trump winning conference with my team,” she noted. Tulsa’s American Athletic Conference title in the spring sent the Hurricanes to the NCAA Women’s Championship for the first time since 2012.
The LNGA title will be a nice memory to take back to school with her in two weeks. Head coach Annie Young encourages summer competition but doesn’t mandate it. It’s nice, Thomas noted, to be tuned up for team qualifying, and this week will have accomplished that.
“Qualifying is one of the more stressful parts of college golf,” she said.
Something says Thomas will start it – and finish it – strong.
