At age 14, Hampstead’s Lauren Thibodeau has already accomplished a lot with her golfing ability. And the sky may just be the limit on the links for the incoming Pinkerton Academy freshman.
After winning the New Hampshire Women’s Golf Association (NHSWGA) junior championship for a record fourth consecutive year in July, the local teen showed that she’s right on the cusp of being able to take that organization’s amateur crown as well by besting golfers who have been involved in the sport since well before Thibodeau was born.
After one round of play in last week’s NHWGA State Am tourney on her home course at the Windham Country Club, the local teenager was all knotted up with 55-year-old, 15-time state amateur champion Dana Harrity for the top score with a one-over-par 73.
Thibodeau had a rough day on the course in round two of the tourney on Tuesday, Aug. 5, shooting an 88 to fall out of the upper echelon of players after two rounds had been completed. But she rebounded beautifully in round three the next day, shooting a 75 to finish with a final score of 236 to tie with former University of Kentucky golfer Lisanne Schmidt for second place overall in the tourney. Harrity shot a 224 to glide to her 16th state amateur title.
Thibodeau, who has played in three American Junior Golf Association events and registered top-10 finishes in all three, carries a 2.9 handicap index and has sunk two career holes-in-one.
In the wake of her tie for the runner-up slot in the State Am, Thibodeau moved on to play in the Symmetra Tour’s New England Charity Classic in Goffstown.
In her impressive win at the NHWGA junior event at the Intervale Country Club in Manchester last month, the local teenager outdistanced Chelsea Sedlar of the Nashua Country Club by one stroke.
Thibodeau tallied a winning score of four-over-par 77 in taking that record fourth straight state junior crown. And she will remain eligible to play for the junior championship until the age of 17.
Kaitlyn Lutinski, who will likely be Thibodeau’s senior teammate on the Pinkerton varsity golf team later this month, finished third overall in the 2014 junior tourney with a score of 82.
Erin Dello Russo of the Hoodkroft Golf Club in Derry finished fifth overall with a score of 91.
