golfer, Megan Schofill, wins the U.S. Women's Amateur!

[Grumps 3,704]

Megan Schofill will play against an LSU golfer tomorrow for the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. HUGE!!!

[augolf1716 21,158]

Yeah just finish watching it. Megan also beat Anna Davis yesterday who is committed to Auburn. Anna's twin brother is committed to Auburn as well their from CA.

Thanks for posting

[Grumps 3,704]

21 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Yeah just finish watching it. Megan also beat Anna Davis yesterday who is committed to Auburn. Anna's twin brother is committed to Auburn as well their from CA.

Thanks for posting

I saw the end of the match yesterday and remembered who you had said on here that Anna Davis was. I think it was you that said she is to AU golf, what Suni Lee was to Auburn gymnastics. I'm going to hold you to that!

[augolf1716 21,158]

1 minute ago, Grumps said:

I saw the end of the match yesterday and remembered who you had said on here that Anna Davis was. I think it was you that said she is to AU golf, what Suni Lee was to Auburn gymnastics. I'm going to hold you to that!

Well I'm old so I can take it.

[LPTiger 5,164]

Tied thru 14....

[LPTiger 5,164]

Schofill is bringing the heat!!!!!   She birdied 15, 16 and 17 to go 3 up with 18 to play.   It will be our first ever women's national amateur championship.   For the romantics among us, her boyfriend is on the bag.   He plays at Ole Miss.   Also, she and the woman she is playing against have been good friends for almost 10 years.

[Grumps 3,704]

Thanks for the update! I checked the Golf Channel and it show it will be live at 6pm. I didn't even realize it was 36 holes today.

[LPTiger 5,164]

1 minute ago, Grumps said:

Thanks for the update! I checked the Golf Channel and it show it will be live at 6pm. I didn't even realize it was 36 holes today.

Roger that Grumps.   I hope she wins it.   The other player was having a Biot of a lower leg issue yesterday.   Playing 36 can't bode well for that.

[Grumps 3,704]

Schofill is REALLY playing great! She is 4 holes up with 7 holes to go.

[Grumps 3,704]

WOOOOOOOOO_HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Megan Schofill wins the U.S Women's Amateur championship!!!! War Eagle!!!! SOMEBODY better roll Toomer's Corner!!!

[Grumps 3,704]

[augolf1716 21,158]

Megan played great all week very determined and focus. She did Auburn proud and was great to see Coach Luellen make a second trip back to LA for the finals. Both men's and women's teams are in great hands for the future.

[LPTiger 5,164]

Bless the non-revenue producing athletes that represent Auburn with such skill, honor and dignity and keep Auburn's name out there for the world to see -- these Tigers are Champions at everything!!!!

[Grumps 3,704]

I see TP on the live Toomer's cam!!! Schofill was a beast yesterday and today when I watched. It seemed like every time she lost a hole she rallied to win the next one. The mental toughness to do that is very rare. And she will play for Auburn this year for the last time.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

al.com

 

Auburn’s Megan Schofill wins U.S. Amateur, Auburn golf teams roll Toomer’s Corner

Updated: Aug. 13, 2023, 10:05 p.m.|Published: Aug. 13, 2023, 9:44 p.m.

4–5 minutes

---

Megan Schofill watches her tee shot on hole six during the final round of the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)USGA Museum

Graduate student Megan Schofill became the first Auburn winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur on Sunday, the most prestigious major championship in the amateur ranks.

And after watching their teammate seal one of the program’s ever-biggest accomplishments, the Auburn women’s golf team went to Toomer’s Corner, and rolled the oak trees for the first time since the school announced it was safe to roll the trees planted in 2017.

Both the men’s and women’s golf teams coated the trees in celebratory toilet paper, along with a few Auburn administrators. A few students were there as well, including women leaving a sorority rush event held on campus Sunday night.

The teams filmed videos to congratulate Schofill and attempted to call her, but were not able to reach her as she celebrated her win at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles.

Schofill’s win U.S Amateur title is her biggest win in an already decorated Tigers career, and it may be a crowning accomplishment so far during the growth of the program under head coach Auburn women’s golf coach Melissa Luellen — who will be entering her ninth year as head coach this fall.

With Schofill’s win, she earns an automatic spot in the U.S. Women’s Open as well as a spot in the 2024 Augusta Women’s Amateur, held at Augusta National Golf Club the week before The Master’s. Schofill has been invited to the Augusta tournament every year from 2020 through 2023.

She also has earned spots in multiple LPGA events as an amateur including the Chevron Championship, AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship.

This was Schofill’s third time competing in the U.S. Amateur. Auburn’s previous high-finisher in the tournament was Maria Martinez’s runner-up finish in 2005.

“It’s definitely a dream come true, but I’d be lying if I wouldn’t say I’m still in shock,” Schofill said after the victory. “I feel like it still hasn’t set in yet. Latanna [Stone] played a great match. It was really fun to be able to walk the fairways with her and I felt like we both played really solid golf. I can’t put into words the emotions I’m feeling and it’s just such an honor to be able to say that I won this year.”

The tournament format begins with two rounds of stroke play. The final 64 golfers then play 18-hole match-play rounds to whittle down to a final two, who play a 36-hole championship.

Schofill entered the tournament as the 6th seed, but by the round of 16, she was already the highest seed remaining. She advanced to the championship to face LSU’s Latanna Stone with the finale aired live on Golf Channel Sunday night.

The match swung late in the first 18 holes when Schofill won four of six holes, including three straight, to go three-up in the match.

Schofill’s putting was a key reason why she was able to gain a comfortable lead over Stone, including a 55-foot birdie putt to clinch the second of the three consecutive holes she won.

Schofill’s lead would never get closer than two-up, and she ultimately won the match 4&3 on the 33rd hole.

Schofill made eight birdies in the championship match.

On the 33rd hole after her drive went off into the trees on the right side of the fairway, Schofill was able to get back on the short grass and fired an approach shot to within five feet of the hole, essentially sealing the match.

“Just so excited for Megan,” Luellen said. “She truly played better golf than anyone else in the field this week. She swung the club so beautifully and when she lost a hole she fought right back. I am so honored that I was able to be here this week to witness it.”

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[icanthearyou 4,463]

Huge accomplishment.  Just like winning a major.  Perhaps even more difficult.

[augolf1716 21,158]

Didn't want to start another thread but Auburn has another golfer in the semi finals JM Butler. Wins today he's in the 36 hole final tomorrow. It would be unbelievable if by some miracle he wins it all which would then have Auburn winners of both men's and women's amateur's opens.

As a side note the other semi has a bammer golfer in it Nick Dunlap.

 

 

The other all-American semifinal will pit John Marshall Butler, 21, of Louisville, Ky., against Neal Shipley, 22, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Butler, 21, a senior at Auburn University, completed his dramatic Round-of-16 victory over Paul Chang early Friday morning with a par on the 19th hole, then led from the first hole in his 3-and-2 quarterfinal victory over Jose Islas, 20, of Mexico, a junior at the University of Oregon.

“I was just really in control of my game mentally and physically,” said Butler of his quarterfinal performance. “Never was rattled. José is a great player. He hit some very high-quality iron shots. But I just stuck to my game plan, played very resiliently. I have all week.”

[Grumps 3,704]

2 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Didn't want to start another thread but Auburn has another golfer in the semi finals JM Butler. Wins today he's in the 36 hole final tomorrow. It would be unbelievable if by some miracle he wins it all which Auburn would then have both men's and women's amateur's winners.

As a side note the other semi has a bammer golfer in it Nick Dunlap.

 

 

The other all-American semifinal will pit John Marshall Butler, 21, of Louisville, Ky., against Neal Shipley, 22, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Butler, 21, a senior at Auburn University, completed his dramatic Round-of-16 victory over Paul Chang early Friday morning with a par on the 19th hole, then led from the first hole in his 3-and-2 quarterfinal victory over Jose Islas, 20, of Mexico, a junior at the University of Oregon.

“I was just really in control of my game mentally and physically,” said Butler of his quarterfinal performance. “Never was rattled. José is a great player. He hit some very high-quality iron shots. But I just stuck to my game plan, played very resiliently. I have all week.”

Auburn had 5 golfers in the final 32 and 2 golfers in the final 8. Quite a showing!!!

[augolf1716 21,158]

Well crap not over yet but almost

[augolf1716 21,158]

Oh well back nine killed him

[Grumps 3,704]

4 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

Oh well back nine killed him

He really struggled. Not a great day for Auburn...........................except that was some catch by Hooks!!!!

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[augolf1716 21,158]

Love the attitude by JM and we will be very deep. Deepest I've ever seen

 

"It just wasn't my day," Butler said. "We've got bigger things ahead of us at Auburn. We're probably going to have the deepest team in the country, and I believe we'll have the best team in the country and we'll have a chance to win a national championship. This isn't the end for me or Auburn golf. You're going to see us very soon."
 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

al.com

 

Megan Schofill is the U.S. Amateur champ and the best Auburn athlete you aren’t watching

Published: Oct. 05, 2023, 6:01 a.m.

13–17 minutes

---

It’s a cool, misty afternoon, lightning flashing off in the distance, and Megan Schofill has only got about 30 minutes to finish drills at the Auburn golf practice facility. She’s already played a round that day, worked chipping routines she still can’t stand and now hitting shots off into the overcast sky.

The televisions in the bay are off. Megan doesn’t like the Trackman system to give her analytics on her swing and ball flight. The best individual golfer in the history of Auburn’s women’s golf program likes to feel and fix what’s wrong with her swing without technology.

She shallowly brings the PING 7-iron behind her body and with all her weight back, smoothly uncorks forward into the ball with a swoosh and a whack. The high-arcing shot fades to the right, exactly the shot shape she was working on that day.

An excellent player with her irons, it’s all so seemingly simple for her now. This is her fifth and final year. Then Megan turns around and tells a story of how she first picked up a club.

Megan Schofill hits a shot at the 2023 Moon Golf Invitational. Credit: Todd DrexlerTodd Drexler

A T-Rex Driver

Megan grew up in Monticello, Florida, a tiny town at the intersection of U.S. Highway 19 and U.S. Highway 90 about 10 miles south of the Georgia state line. There’s a little nine-hole golf course — Jefferson Country Club — and a few more courses on the road west toward Tallahassee.

It’s a town small enough that everyone seemingly knew each other and that’s not just some cliche. Delivery drivers, teachers and golf pros alike. Megan played sports year-round as a kid — softball and basketball in particular — but her dad Billy Schofill always brought her to the golf course. Billy was just a casual golfer. He let Megan and her sister Ashley drive the golf cart. He let them hit his putts from time to time and play in the bunkers as if they were a sandbox at the playground.

By fourth or fifth grade, Megan got her first set of golf clubs, a hand-me-down gift from her uncle. They were shaped like dinosaurs. Her driver had a T-Rex head cover and the driver itself was shaped like the T-Rex’s face.

Around that age, she started going to a golf camp with David Jackson, a former PGA Tour golfer who worked at Jefferson Country Club. She enjoyed golf then, and certainly had some skill, but didn’t begin taking it seriously until middle school. She got real golf clubs, too.

Megan played nine holes with her dad on Sundays after church and took lessons with Jackson. Jackson knew Megan before she was even born, going to church in the same town with Megan’s parents. Jackson’s family and the Schofills have lived on the same street just a few doors away for decades. Jackson’s own son is about the same age. He and Megan would hit shots with their 8-irons across the yard to each other. Those are about the only sets of parents who didn’t have to worry about the kids sending a golf ball crashing through their window.

As she got closer to high school, Megan said he began to play daily. She wanted to be in events her friends were competing in. Once she saw she had worked hard enough to compete statewide in Florida, Megan began thinking about playing in college.

She’s working on her game in an Auburn facility she’d long wanted to be in, but it was a place that didn’t feel Megan was the right fit.

Then, back at the range, she turned to her basket of golf balls. She used the iron to grab another one, and lined up for the next shot. She hit her shot and laughed when asked about her first interaction with her now head coach.

Megan Schofill watches her approach shot on hole 32 during the final match of the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)USGA Museum

‘Not good enough to play at Auburn’

Auburn coach Melissa Luellen’s name was quite verboten in the Schofill household for many years.

Luellen actually hadn’t heard this story until before the start of the 2023 season, she said in a press conference. The story itself has a few different sides, but it all ends in a parking lot after an Auburn golf camp where Luellen told Megan she wasn’t good enough to play at Auburn. She wanted to bring players to Auburn that could help her team win immediately, and that wasn’t Megan.

“I could tell that she loved the game and hit the ball far enough, but it was little all over the place,” Luellen said in an interview with AL.com. “Her short game wasn’t that sharp and so as far as someone to come in on the spot, there were other players that were ahead of her.”

These days, Megan will say Luellen was right. But at that point, it truly angered her. Luellen said it drove Megan.

Though still early in high school at that point, Jackson said Megan hadn’t “started killing it yet” in her high school tournaments. He said he emailed Florida, his alma mater, to see if they might be looking for a golfer like Megan. Jackson never got a response. Florida State eventually offered Megan the chance to walk on. Megan said she wanted to play in college, but she also wanted to make sure school was paid for. So Florida State wouldn’t do.

Megan initially committed to play at Kentucky.

“I asked her, ‘Is there any school you would de-commit from Kentucky for,’” Jackson said. “She said Auburn.”

Jackson said he would stay in touch with Ricky Smallridge, a former PGA Tour player with Jackson and current Auburn professor in the School of Kinesiology. He updated him on Megan’s growing success in high school tournaments as she got older. Jackson said Smallridge would pass on the news to Luellen.

Eventually, a spot at Auburn opened up and Luellen offered it to Megan. Her name was suddenly allowed again down in Monticello.

She’s a much more consistent player now, as she reached back to the golf balls for her next shot. Her last five shots have all landed is nearly the exact same spot. But it took a maturation process to get here.

The making of a star

Over her time at Auburn, Megan’s swing has gone through much development. Once Luellen got her on campus, one of her first comments was picking up the speed of her swing. That slow take back used to be even slower. Luellen has worked with Schofill on hinging her wrists properly on her swing to keep the path of the club shallow and not pointed straight at the sky. Megan said she just likes to be comfortable with her swing.

Head coach Melissa Luellen and Megan Schofill during the semifinal match play of the East Lake Cup between the Oregon Ducks and the Auburn Tigers at East Lake Golf Club in Auburn, AL on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022. Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Luellen saw her mature from a high schooler to a college golfer.

Luellen remembers Megan’s first tournament and going through strategy the night before. They discussed which pin locations they could go after, and which to play safe from. The next day didn’t go well for Megan and Auburn.

“Well coach, that’s just not how I play,” Luellen recalls Megan saying. “I like to go for every pin.”

“Then you’re gonna have a pretty short career,” Luellen responded.

Slowly, Megan learned to use a sticker in her yardage book that denotes what to do with her approach shots. She does it religiously now. Luellen said Megan complains when younger players don’t use the tool, and Luellen reminds her she didn’t use it right away either.

Her development over her first four years led her to first-team SEC and first-team All-American selections. She’s a multiple-time individual winner in college and is near the Auburn all-time leader in almost every statistical category. Long before the 2022-23 season ended, Megan knew she was coming back for a fifth year. She said the COVID-19 pandemic robbed her of a year of college and she was going to get it back.

It all led her to August at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles.

Megan reaches for another ball then turns around again. She can’t see the trophy that’s sitting on the table at the entrance to the Jack Key Golf Teaching Facility, but she began to talk about her biggest golf accomplishment, still fresh from a few weeks prior.

Megan Schofill watches her tee shot on hole six during the final round of the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)USGA Museum

Lifting a trophy in a Los Angeles

The U.S. Amateur is a grinding, grueling, exhausting week-long affair with massive prizes at the end. It begins with a two-round stroke play tournament to seed the top 64 for a match-play bracket. Megan would get the sixth overall seed. She advanced to the quarterfinals with a victory in 19 holes over the No. 54 seed. There, she beat Anna Davis — one of the top amateur players in the world, winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at 16-year-old, competing in four LPGA major championships already and an Auburn commit — to truly make those around her believe she could actually win this.

Megan Schofill smiles at her caddie after finishing hole eight during the round of 16 of the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)USGA Museum

Luellen hardly slept as she walked the final round with Megan. Luellen was in L.A. the first weekend of the tournament for the handful of Auburn golfers there. Then she went back home, with the plan to only go back if someone made the championship. When Megan beat Davis, Luellen looked at getting plane tickets. Megan’s semifinal matchup was close, but Luellen was confident of Megan advancing that she’d already dropped her dog off to be taken care of while she flew out to watch Megan.

Megan is quite superstitious, and Luellen worried Megan wouldn’t want her there. But she wasn’t going to miss this. Luellen and her husband raced to Atlanta, boarded the plane and landed in Los Angeles around what would have been 4 a.m. central time.

“We’re just running on adrenaline,” Luellen said.

She walked the 36-hole finale with Megan as she began to take a lead over LSU’s Latanna Stone on the first 18. With a comfortable lead, the second set of 18 holes was essentially played on cruise control. On the 33rd hole, Megan lipped out a putt to win the championship. Then Stone followed by lipping out her own putt, sealing the tournament for Megan.

“It’s something nobody will be able to take away from me,” Megan said.

The first hug was a tear-filled embrace to Luellen on the green.

Back in Auburn, members of the men’s and women’s golf teams rolled the trees at Toomer’s Corner. Megan was the first cause for celebration on the famous oak trees after Auburn announced they could finally be rolled again after they were planted in 2017.

Meanwhile, an exhausted Luellen took the redeye back.

Megan Schofill checks her yardage book in the third round of the 2023 SEC Championship.

So, how does a trophy make it across America?

It was a whirlwind of media interviews the 24 hours after her win. Megan got back to Auburn first thing the next morning and was on Golf Channel before a Zoom call with local reporters.

The time after the tournament ended was spent responding to texts and finding a moment to call her parents. PGA golfer Harris English texted Megan to congratulate her. So did Auburn athletic director John Cohen and football coach Hugh Freeze.

When the trophy ceremony ended, Megan took an Uber to the airport. She too took the redeye back. She had the option to take the trophy on the plane. She didn’t want to.

So the trophy arrived in a box from UPS on Billy Schofill’s Monticello back porch.

Megan’s father wasn’t able to attend the championship. But he too is superstitious. He had a pack of gum in his pocket when she plays, and that week, kept watering the grass during her shots because she was hitting it well when he did.

When she won, Billy Schofill cried.

Billy Schofill knows his usual UPS driver on a first-name basis. But it wasn’t the regular driver the day the trophy arrived. The driver dropped the trophy off at the house. No one had to sign for it.

Look closely at the Robert Cox Trophy. It’s bent. But Billy Schofill didn’t know that until he saw it in person. He’d heard rumors about the lean, but of course, there’s the worry it was damaged in transit. It wasn’t.

The Schofills’ normal delivery driver came the next day. He knew the trophy was on its way and was upset he missed having the chance to drop it off. But the Schofills brought him inside and let him see it.

“As a father, you think about, man, that’s the bigger Amateur tournament,” Billy Schofill said. “To think that your daughter is on that list, on that trophy, it’s a proud moment.”

David Jackson is organizing a celebration back at Jefferson Country Club for Megan. The trophy will make its way back to Florida.

For now, the trophy sits on an elegant table in the lobby of the Jack Key building. It has made the rounds through Auburn to media events and being hoisted on the Jordan-Hare Stadium field as Megan was honored during the Samford game. She said she gets recognized occasionally when she walks around town.

Now, she has to somehow shift her focus from the biggest win of her life to a run-of-the-mill college golf tournament.

That’s part of her process during the time at the range. The sky had begun to clear up in those 30 minutes and now the men’s team was there for their turn at the range. John Marshall Butler walked into her bay. He had finished in the semifinals of the men’s U.S. Amateur the week after Megan’s win. Asked if the two had spoken about their U.S. Amateur experiences, they looked at each other and laughed.

In that room, it’s just about fixing their swings.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com