WEST POINT, Miss. (Sports Network) -- Meghan Bolger and Thuhashini Selvaratnam will square off Thursday for the title at the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur.
Bolger defeated Jill Hardy, 3 & 2, in the semifinals Wednesday to earn her spot in the 18-hole final match at Old Waverly Golf Club. Meanwhile, Selvaratnam fended off 1998 winner Virginia Grimes, 2 & 1.
Hardy, who was playing in her 17th Women's Mid-Amateur, took the early lead over Bolger with a birdie on the first. Bolger squared the match on two with a birdie on the par 5. Hardy bogeyed the next two holes to fall 2-down.
Bolger, the head women's golf coach at University of Mississippi, struggled to a double-bogey at the sixth, then bogeyed the par-3 seventh to square the match. She took over from there, though.
The 28-year-old Bolger moved 1-up as Hardy bogeyed the eighth, then Bolger eagled the par-5 ninth to extend her lead. Hardy stumbled to a bogey on 11.
Bolger pushed her lead to 4-up with a birdie on the 13th. Bolger double-bogeyed the par-5 15th, but the match was over one hole later as both double-bogeyed the par-4 16th.
In the other semifinal match, Grimes never led while Selvaratnam never had more than a 2-up cushion. Selvaratnam birdied the first to grab a 1-up lead, but gave that lead back with a bogey on the second.
Selvaratnam, of Sri Lanka, birdied the eighth and ninth to grab a 2-up lead. She bogeyed No. 11 as her lead slipped to 1-up. Another Selvaratnam bogey on the 13th evened the match.
Grimes, a three-time Curtis Cupper, bogeyed 14 to again fall 1-down. The 30- year-old Selvaratnam bogeyed 15 to again square the match. Selvaratnam birdied 16 and 17 to close out the 2 & 1 win.
The U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur is open to female amateur golfers who will have reached their 25th birthday on or before October 21, 2006, and who have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 9.4.
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