Already one of the top private golf clubs in Rochester, recent transformations at Ridgemont Country Club have also significantly enhanced the quality of the golf course. Ridgemont hosts the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship Danielle E. Downey Memorial on Sunday and Monday, September 16 and 17.
This year, the
Rochester District Golf Association is excited to bring the
RDGA Women’s Championship Danielle E. Downey Memorial to the beautiful
Ridgemont Country Club – one of the Rochester area’s top private golf facilities – for the second time in the eight-year history of this annual championship event.
On September 16 and 17, the
2018 RDGA Women’s Championship, will feature women RDGA members with a USGA GHIN Handicap Index of 15 or lower, competing in a scratch, two-day, 36-hole stroke play event.
The RDGA and Ridgemont share a history that goes back more than eight decades – dating to 1935, when the club hosted the sixth annual RDGA District Championship, won by John McGrath. Since then, the golf course at Ridgemont has undergone many changes – particularly since 2013, when long-time member Jim Cucinelli purchased the club – changes designed to improve playability, while at the same time, offering golfers many strategic options.
“It’s not a long course, but there are a lot of risk-reward opportunities,” says Andrew Smith, Ridgemont’s PGA Head Professional. “It will be a tough challenge – many of the greens are pretty small.”
The most dramatic changes to the course include new tees on 15, 16 and 17 and new ponds on 15 and 18, providing many of those risk-reward opportunities just as players near the end of their rounds – which should make for some exciting moments during the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship.
Risks Reward Those Who Have A Short Game
A classic northeast parkland style venue that has played host to the Rochester District Golf Association Championship nine times since 1935, Ridgemont offers a challenging test of golf for players of all levels. During the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship, the course will play at a par of 72 – from 5,550 yards during the first round on Sunday, September 16 and from 5,300 yards during the second round on Monday, September 17.
Following recent upgrades and improvements, the biggest change has been the addition of new tee boxes on holes 3, 5, 6, 15, 16 and 18.
The other striking new feature is the pond that runs along the right side of the 15
th hole, giving that hole an entirely new look. Although the removal of trees has opened up the hole – a dogleg right – to being reachable for the game’s longer hitters, the pond that replaced the trees is waiting for any short or errant shot.
Conversely, the short 16th hole – also a dogleg right par-4 – can be a tempting target for big hitters. But the trees lining the approach to the green make the option to go for the green off the tee more risk than reward.
Combined with the course’s small-sized greens – which may look flat but often have several breaks and are guarded by false fronts – there is plenty of bite to Ridgemont’s layout despite its relatively shorter length.
“The smaller greens, combined with the thick rough and fast greens will make the course as tough as it can be for the Championship,” adds Ridgemont Membership Coordinator Chuck Gannon. “If you miss the fairway, you better bring your short game.”
A Championship Fit For A Rochester Legend
The RDGA Women’s Championship began in 2010 as an extension of the Distict’s Women’s Golf Initiative – becoming an integral part of the RDGA’s efforts to provide the area’s best women golfers an opportunity to compete against other top players on some of the most storied venues in the Rochester area.
Between 2010 and 2016, the RDGA Women’s Championship was played as a two-day, 36-hole, stroke play competition, held each year concurrently with the RDGA Men’s District Championship, with competitors teeing off in separate flights during the final two rounds of the Men’s District Championship. The field was open to any women RDGA members with a USGA handicap index of 15.0 and under – and included those exempt from qualifying, such as past champions and/or the top-20 finishers from the the previous year’s championship.
In 2014, the RDGA Women’s Championship took on a new title, when in January of that year, 33-year-old Spencerport native Danielle Downey was killed in an auto accident near her alma mater at Auburn University in Alabama, where she was Director of Golf and coach for the women’s golf team.
Having attained her dream of playing at the highest levels of women’s golf – as an amateur, Division I collegiate player and a member of the LPGA Tour – one of Downey’s life missions had been to support those young women who shared that dream of making golf their career. Recognizing those goals and other accomplishments – in life and in golf – the RDGA announced later that year that it was re-naming the annual Women’s District Championship in her honor as the RDGA Women’s Championship Danielle E. Downey Memorial.
In 2016, Jenna Hoecker of Brook-Lea Country Club earned her second Danielle E. Downey Memorial title, winning the RDGA Women’s Championship by 10 shots over past champion Kristin Powers at Ridgemont Country Club. Hoecker posted the low score of the 36-hole Championship – a 76 – in the final round to win the title with a 9-over-par 153 total.
Early in 2018, the decision was made to incorporate the RDGA Women’s Championship into the popular RDGA Women’s Open event – in which the Championship division competitors will play 18 holes at the same site the day before the Women’s Open, then play the second 18 hole round at the same time as the Women’s Open.
A Look Ahead – And a Return to Ridgemont
This year, the RDGA Women’s Championship Danielle E. Downey Memorial is back as a two-day, 36-hole stroke play competition – along with defending champion Jenna Hoecker – beginning on Sunday, September 16.
The field is limited to 16 players, with all golfers teeing off No. 1 on Sunday and playing 18 holes in Round 1 on the RDGA Green Tees at 5,550 yards. On Monday, the field will return for Round 2, with Championship pairings beginning play on holes 1 and 10, playing alongside the field of the RDGA Women’s Open (from the Green Tees at 5,300 yards), which is being held concurrently with day 2 of the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship. Players from the Championship and Open will join together for the awards dinner following play.
Along with crowning a new RDGA Women’s Champion, approximately one third of the Championship field will receive prizes, as well as points towards the RDGA Women’s Player of the Year Award – to be given to the top-10 finishers in the Championship. The winner of the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship will also be presented with a trophy and a championship ring.
Wilde is a three-time winner of the New York State Women’s Amateur Championship (1965, 1971, 1973) and joined the LPGA Tour in 1976, only to have her playing career ended prematurely by a painful bone condition in one hand.
Returning to the Rochester area, Wilde began teaching golf and became a member of the Professional Golfers Association in 1982 – one of a small number of women to do this. Now, among active PGA members, she’s the longest-serving woman. She has taught at several clubs in the Rochester area, including Shadow Pines in Penfield and Eagle Vale in Perinton, where she continues to give private lessons.
The Inaugural RDGA Leading The Way Award has been created to honor an individual in the Rochester community who has worked tirelessly to grow the game of golf for women and men.
The award presentation will take place as part of the annual dinner following the conclusion of the RDGA Women’s Open and RDGA Women’s Championship at Ridgemont on Monday, September 17 at 6:30 p.m.
This article was written by RDGA Communications Director Dave Eaton.
The 18th hole at Ridgemont provides spectators a great view of the action – as well as a dramatic conclusion to the 2018 RDGA Women’s Championship.
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