Two MSU Golfers Heading to U.S. Women’s Amateur
Shannon Kennedy and Brooke Biermann win Michigan and Missouri state amateurs to advance
By Tom Lang
Shannon Kennedy, the 2020 Miss Golf from Bloomfield Hills Marian High, and MSU teammate Brooke Biermann of Wildwood, MO are headed to the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship by virtue of winning their respective State Amateurs in June.
Kennedy is the 108th Michigan Women’s Amateur Champion, and Biermann won the 94th playing of the Missouri Women’s Amateur. In a new move this year by the USGA, champions from selected states are now automatically qualified into the national tournament.
"It's so great that I'm going to get the chance to share that experience with Shannon," Biermann said. "I think it says a lot for our (MSU) program that we've got amateur champions from two states playing in it and I hope we both can make a run at it."
Kennedy was heavily doubting herself just two years ago about not getting out of the stroke play portion of the Michigan tournament to reach the five rounds of match play.
“I missed the (stroke play) cut at this tournament a couple years ago and I think that was, honestly, a really big turning point in my career,” Kennedy said. “I said to my dad, ‘I’m done; like I don’t even want to do this anymore, it’s embarrassing.’ I’m a college golfer at Michigan State … I said to myself ‘you should be winning this tournament, not missing the cut.’
"And my dad said to me, ‘look Shannon, you have the rest of your life to play golf. It doesn’t matter if you miss the cut, make the cut, you can still play golf the rest of your life. From then on I’ve tried to have the mentality I’m going to play in the Michigan Amateur as many times as I can for the rest of my life. If I don’t win it now, I can get it the next time.”
Well, she won it now – a 2-up victory over MHSAA state champ Elise Fennel of Caledonia who is on her way to play golf at Illinois State.
Kennedy added her name to the Patti Shook Boice Trophy with 13 other Spartans since the mid-1960s.
“I feel really good looking at that trophy and seeing other Spartans on there, like Ally Geer, and coach (Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll),” Kennedy said, after noting she didn’t realize until right before the final round began that the winner got a USGA invitation.
Biermann’s victory in Missouri was a 3-day stroke play event, where she fired a 5-under par 211 (73-68-70) to top the field. She took the lead in the second round with a 4-under par 68 and closed out with a 2-under par 70 to hold on for the win.
After opening the championship tied for fourth place at 1-over par 73, Biermann bounced back with her 68, a tournament record, thanks to five birdies, including four on the back nine.
