The Women's Amateur final wasn't good golf. It was great — and ended with a fantastic finish

EAST PROVIDENCE — Emily Brooks started her Rhode Island golf journey looking to see if she still had what it takes to play competitive golf.

She ended it as a champion.

It wasn’t easy. As Brooks put on a show at Wannamoisset Country Club, Morgan MacLeod was doing the same and spent most of the Rhode Island Golf Association’s Women’s Amateur final in the lead. Brooks tied the match on 16 and, after a MacLeod miscue on 18, hit a clutch approach that helped close the door on the 1-up win and her second Amateur title in four years.

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“It feels incredible,” Brooks said. “It feels awesome to get the trophy and win, but more personally being able to stick in my routine and just get it done and overcome all the negative thoughts that have run through my brain this week.

“To stand on the 18 ^th green with two putts to win, especially being down all day long, is pretty awesome.”

“I feel good about the way I played,” MacLeod said. “It was a good score, but she made a bunch of birdies. We just both played really well and it was a good match.”

Good might be underselling it a bit.

In the biggest match on the golf calendar, both women brought their best.

Both players stuck to their game plans that got them to Friday’s final. Brooks was going to play aggressive, fire at everything and hope the flatstick was working for her. MacLeod was going to play fast, consistent and try to make as many pars as possible.

Brooks and MacLeod both executed to perfection. The duo made seven combined bogeys in the round and only once — on the long par-4 fifth — did they do it at the same time.

Par was a good score, but it clearly wasn’t always good enough. MacLeod won her first hole on No. 2 with a par, but a nifty birdie on the short par-3 third hole had her up by two early.

“The whole day I was like ‘maybe you have to make birdies here; maybe par will only tie a hole,’ ” MacLeod said. “It happened a few times.”

Brooks put on a ball-striking display because there was really no other way to chase down MacLeod. Brooks won four holes on Friday and it wasn’t until 18 that a par was the score that did it for her.

“She scared me starting out,” Brooks said. “She put the pedal down and you think something would faze her, but it didn’t. She just executed.”

Brooks cut the deficit to 1-down after a bridie on No. 7 and the two exchanged pars and birdies on the next two holes, with both shooting even-par 37 on the front. MacLeod got the lead back to 2 with a par on No. 10, but a birdie on No. 11 got Brooks back within one.

On No. 14, Brooks hammered a drive just over the green on the short par-4 and looked ready to tie the match. Instead, MacLeod made a casual up-and-down with Brooks missing another birdie putt. The two traded pars on No. 15 and Brooks knew it was time to move.

The final three holes at Wannamoisset favored Brooks. She showed off her length all week and was 30 and 40 yards past MacLeod at times. On the par-5 16 ^th , MacLeod had to lay up with her second shot and settled for par. Brooks hit a 9-iron to the green and two-putted for birdie to tie things up.

“Once I made the turn, I got through 10 and was like ‘I’m going to fire at pins,’ ” Brooks said. “I was hitting it great, I wanted to be aggressive and not lay back. I didn’t want to be afraid of making a mistake — full send.”

On 17, another par-5, Brooks tried to get home in two, but flared her shot out right. MacLeod laid up, then hit her approach to 25 feet out.

Sitting in wet rough, Brooks came up with what looked like the title-winning shot, hitting a wedge from 73 yards out to three feet.

“Seventy yards is my favorite wedge number of all time,” Brooks said. “As soon as I hit it, my caddie was like ‘oh that’s really good.’ ”

MacLeod didn’t look especially nervous standing over her putt. With mom Angel — who qualified for match play but lost in the first round — helping with the read, MacLeod struck the putt with just enough gas for it to fall over the edge of the cup.

“When I hit it, I thought it was possible that it had enough, but then it was like ‘do it,’ ” MacLeod said. “All my other putts were edging out all day. I was just glad I made one.”

“That’s the thing with Morgan — you can never count her out,” Brooks said. “If she’s got 10 feet, she’s going to make them and she did it all on the back nine.”

On No. 18, Brooks showed championship composure.

Ready to hit on the tee box a car from the surrounding streets hammered its horn. Brooks didn’t flinch, but just before she was ready to pull the trigger, the driver continued to slam the horn.

Brooks backed off, reset, and then hit a nuclear bomb to the middle of the fairway.

“Since Monday I hadn’t played 18, everything had been done on 17 or shorter,” Brooks said. “It was like, ‘OK, what do I do here.’

“It was straight into the wind. First horn hit, I kept going, but then I had to back off of it.”

MacLeod also found the fairway. The pin was 165 yards away, protected by a front right bunker. MacLeod tried to play a shot left, but didn’t square it. The ball got stuck in the wind and dropped in the bunker.

Brooks didn’t let the shot change how she was playing. With 119 into the breeze, she knew long was better than short. Instead of trying to murder a wedge or full-stock nine, she hit a knockdown 8 iron. The ball bore through the wind, landed 15 feet past the hole and spun back, leaving 12 feet for the win.

“I knew I had enough club,” Brooks said. “My punch shot has a little bit of a cut, I started it a little left and as it cut, it got up in the wind. I knew I had enough club.”

MacLeod didn’t get out of the bunker on her first try before knocking her second to makeable range. For the first time all week, Brooks changed her aggressive nature and made sure her first putt was close enough so the second didn’t matter.

“You really have to control negative thoughts,” Brooks said. “It’s like OK, I have two putts to win. I just have to cozy it up there.

“I thought I made the putt actually. That would have been baller — to drop it on the last — but my game plan was to not hit it too far.”

MacLeod didn’t get the title she was searching for, but left little doubt about her standing among Rhode Island’s top players. While MacLeod was an All-Stater at Bay View, her game is at a completely differently level now and she’ll continue to be a contender at the Women’s Amateur as long as she plays in it.

“My game is in a really good place, especially with me going back to school in two weeks,” said MacLeod, who's entering her junior at Merrimack College. “I’ve definitely improved since the last [Women’s Amateur] final I was in.”

Brooks might not be in another.

When she moved to Newport, Brooks wanted to see if she could play and enjoy competitive golf the way she did when she played at Elon College. She won the Women’s Amateur in her first season back and while she struggled with her game the last two years, it was clear Brooks found what she was looking for.

Now, with a move to Nashville in the coming weeks, she wanted to make the most in what could be her last competitive round in Rhode Island.

“It’s been so good for my relationship with competitive golf with that first year being at Wanumetonomy, to get back in it and to put myself in these positions where I’m not comfortable,” Brooks said. “Competitive golf, you think it’s just another round but it’s different.

“I guess this is like a swan song right before I leave. It’s just been really good for my golf and my confidence knowing if I stick to a game plan and just trust it, the rest is out of my control.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The Women's Amateur final wasn't good golf. It was great — and ended with a fantastic finish