SCOTTS BLUFF – It was a wide-open race during the Final Round of the 20th Nebraska Girls’ Amateur Championship, but it was again Aurora’s Danica Badura who triumphed at Scotts Bluff Country Club on Wednesday.
After dealing with difficult weather conditions during the first round, the girls had ideal conditions during the final 18 holes. Several players had a chance to claim the title, with a few different girls holding the lead at some point. However, Badura outlasted them all and posted a second-straight 75 (+3) to win by one stroke with a 150 (+6) total.
It’s a sweep for Badura, who won her first NGA title last month at the Nebraska Girls’ Match Play Championship. She’s the sixth player to sweep both of the NGA’s girls’ championships in the same year, and the first to do so since Wahoo’s Hannah Thiele in 2015.
Lincoln’s Neely Adler held the lead after the first round, but Lincoln’s Nicole Kolbas quickly tied that lead with a birdie on the par-5 opening hole. Adler regained the lead with a birdie on No. 4, but Badura turned right around and birdied No. 6 to take her first lead of the day. Badura, a University of South Dakota commit, kept that lead and increased it to two strokes at the turn, following an even-par 36 on the front nine.
It looked as if Badura might run away with another title, but Gering’s Madi Schlaepfer caught fire. After a birdie on No. 9, Schlaepfer added birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 to get to 3-under for the round, and just one back of Badura at 4-over.
The tides turned again, as Badura bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12, Schlaepfer cooled off, and Kolbas made birdie on No. 13 to take the solo lead at 4-over. Badura regained the lead with pars on her next five holes. She only made two birdies during the championship, but made no double-bogeys or worse.
The drama was not done yet though, as Omaha’s Katie Ruge and Scottsbluff’s Emily Krzyzanowski made their own runs. Ruge, who led early in the first round, had started her final round bogey, double-bogey. The Millard North junior-to-be played the next 15 holes in 4-under par, including a tee shot to inside five feet on the par-3 17th. Ruge made the birdie on No. 17, and went to the 18th hole one stroke back.
Krzyzanowski had put herself in the mix with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, but bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 dropped her back. She closed with a birdie to tie Ruge, who bogeyed the last, at 7-over.
With the two players already in at 7-over, Badura continued her par barrage and headed to the final hole at 5-over, with a one-stroke lead over Kolbas. Neither player was able to reach the green in regulation, and Kolbas’ putt from the back fringe rolled about five feet past the hole. Badura cozied her par putt up to about two feet, and converted the bogey putt after Kolbas made her attempt.
Badura finished at 6-over, while Kolbas finished at 151 (+7) tied for runner-up honors with Ruge and Krzyzanowski. Ruge’s final round 72 (E) is tied for the second-lowest round in Girls’ Amateur history.
Schlaepfer tied for fifth with Papillion’s Sydney Taake at 153 (+9). North Platte’s Baylee Steel shot a final round 75 (+3) to finished seventh at 155 (+11), while Scottsbluff’s Anna Kelley was eighth at 157 (+13). Omaha’s Julia Karmazin improved 10 strokes from her first round, shooting a 74 (+2) to take ninth at 158 (+14). Brule’s Harley Hiltibrand rounds out the top 10 in tenth at 159 (+15).
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