Those three shots over 475 yards for an easy-does-it eagle propelled Yeazell to a 3-under par 69 and co-medalist honors Wednesday in the U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier. Yeazell earned her first appearance in the national tournament that will be played August 4-10 at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
Yeazell played high school golf at Lakota East and just completed her junior season at Findlay, finishing in a tie for 13th in the NCAA Division II national championship. She made three birdies through the first 10 holes to hold the lead at 3-under. Then bogeys on 12 and 15 tightened the field.
“Once I made the turn, I thought I was in a really good spot,” said Yeazell, who kept her eyes off the leaderboard. “Then I made those couple bogeys and didn’t really know where I stood. After the eagle, I thought I kind of had it. I still didn’t know where I was, but I knew it definitely helped.”
Yeazell shared first place with Canadian Eileen Park who birdied 15, 17 and 18. Emily Holzopfel of Rayland and Mia Rallo of Wentzville, Missouri, advanced out of a playoff of four players who shot 1-under par 71s. Kathryn DeLoach of Athens, Georgia, and Grace Carter of Jupiter, Florida, are the first and second alternates.
Yeazell’s dad, David, caddied for her. Typically her mom — Northern Kentucky assistant women’s coach Melissa Yeazell — is on her bag. But sister Clare Yeazell wanted mom’s touch Wednesday.
“It was good,” Ellie Yeazell said. “I told him he was there to read greens, and he read the greens well.”
The Yeazell family just took a recent trip to Oregon to play Bandon Dunes, which sits on the Oregon coast and is wide open compared to the narrow tree-lined Walnut Grove. Yeazell had not played the course until this week.
“I like it,” she said. “It was tight, but I was hitting it good.”
Wednesday’s field was marked by former Greater Western Ohio Conference players who are now college golfers.
“It’s really cool to see everybody come together again,” said Springboro graduate Taylor Dunkle. “It feels like it’s full circle coming back and seeing all them play once they’re in college and getting to play an amateur with them.”
Morgan Rodgers, who led Centerville to the Division I state title in 2022, shot a 78. She now plays at Ohio University and enjoys the closeness of her team.
“I love the team and my coach, and the way we get along off the course definitely translates on the course,” she said. “Spending a lot of time with them helps us all play better.”
Rodgers is a journalism major and is an intern this summer with the Miami Valley Golf Association. She wants to be a golf writer and is writing recap and preview articles for the website.
“It’s been nice to get real experience with what I want to do in the future,” she said. “I’d love to write and travel and cover tournaments.”
Two of Rodgers’ former Centerville teammates also competed. Leeann Harker, a member of the state title team, plays at Ashland and shot 76. jenna Hayes, who graduated the year before the state title, plays at Western Michigan and shot 86. Ally Turner from Miamisburg, and teammate of Rodgers at OU, shot 85.
Dunkle, a two-time district champion and three-time state qualifier at Springboro, shot 82. A year ago she committed to Cleveland State. But in January the school cut the women’s golf team. Dunkle is now preparing to attend Bellarmine in Louisville and play for a team making the transition this coming year from Division II to Division I.
“It was really sad because I had purposefully committed early,” said Dunkle, who plans to study accounting and data science. “I felt like I was way behind and sort of scrambling to find a new school, but Bellarmine is also a very good fit.”
Sarah Willis won Division II individual state titles at Eaton in 2016 and 2017, played college golf at Penn State and has been focused on her work career in Cincinnati. But this summer she is back playing competitively for the first time in two years and shot 75. She qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2023 with a third-place finish at Walnut Grove.
“There’s nothing that can simulate the nerves quite like an actual competitive event,” she said. “The first few holes I had to take a breather and remind myself how to perform under these types of conditions. It was really fun though. I was happy to be back out.”
Willis’ next event will be a qualifier in Cincinnati for the Women’s Mid-Amateur, which is open to players 25 and older.
“I definitely have a lot of things I’m ready to work on after today,” she said. “I’m really assessing where I’m at in the competition. Adding the nerves in does have an element where it shows what you need to work on.”
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