It was fitting that Stephanie Belnap brought up the name of her best-ball partner Terry Hansen as she discussed her victory at the Women's State Amateur Wednesday.
Belnap, who was known as Brockbank when she captured last year's State Amateur by a single stroke, won by a whopping 16 shots over runnerup Kami Whitehead. That matched the winning margin of Hansen, who was then known as Terry Norman, when she won the Women's State Am title in 1982.Belnap shot her second straight even-par round of 74 to finish with a 54-hole total of 220. Eighteen-year-old Kami Whitehead finished second at 236, followed by veteran Joyce Billings, whose 71 Wednesday was the best of the tournament.
"I guess I putted the best of everybody," said Belnap in trying to explain her large victory. "The key was putting - it killed everyone else."
While most of the women had plenty of three- and four-putts on Wolf Creek's slick, sloping greens, Belnap limited her three-putts to four for the entire week and averaged just 31.3 putts per round (that's under two per hole).
Afterwards, Belnap talked about Hansen, who preferred not to play in the three-day State Amateur and be away from her 3-year-old child.
"I try to talk to her every year, but she won't budge," said Belnap. "I know she's still playing well."
Former champion and 1994 runnerup Lachell Simmons didn't play this year, nor did former champions such as Lisa Ikegami or Patty Brimley or University of Tennessee sophomore Skyli Yamada.
That left Belnap as the heavy favorite, although there were contenders such as Weber State golfer Aimee Aardema, who knew the course well, along with Weber State-freshmen-to-be Jill Steenburg and Whitehead.
Belnap began the day with a 14-shot lead, so with a victory virtually assured, she came out Wednesday with a goal of beating her first-day 72.
Early on, she looked to be on her way, sinking birdies at 2 and 8 and making the turn at 1-under par. But she couldn't get anything going on the back nine. A rare three-putt bogey at No. 13 put her back to even-par, where she stayed.
Belnap, who will be a senior on the BYU golf team this fall, credited her experience of playing a variety of greens in college golf, with helping her this week. "You go from bermuda grass to putting on ice," she said.
Whitehead, who played in the first flight, had a fine front nine, moving to 2-under, before struggling on the back to finish at 2-over for the day.
Billings had a terrific round, getting as low as 5-under par before making double-bogey at the final hole to finish with a 3-under-par 71 and 240 total.
"It was fun," said Billings, who wished she could have replaced her first two rounds of 83 and 86. "My putter was working and my driver was working today. These days come together every now and then."
Besides Whitehead, other flight winners were Joan Lally (265) in the second, Jeanne Deschepper (280) in the third and Heather Obray (303) in the fourth.