Page 28 - SWFGM Magazine Summer 2019

The 449-yard 18th hole, converted to a par 5 for the
championship, produced the exciting finish it was designed
to produce. First up came Coughlin, a winner a year ago at
the Symetra Tour’s PHC Classic. She turned a ho-hum round
into something quite special with a birdie-par-birdie-eagle
finish, making 3 on the last hole after hitting a 5-wood from
200 yards to 3 feet of the flagstick. The eagle gave her 66,
the day’s low round, and made her the first player to get to
12 under.

Next up stepped Julieta Granada, who once won a million
dollars on a Sunday just down the road in Naples at the
2006 ADT Championship. At 32, she has been trying to
find a spark in her game, and did that at Charlotte Harbor
National, shooting 65 on Friday and 67 on Sunday. She hit
a poor second shot left and short into 18, then nearly pitched Fourteen-year-old Alexa Pano (in white), who stole the spotlight all week,
in for 3, her birdie-4 getting her to 12 under alongside offers her thoughts after shooting a final-round 73 and tying for eighth.
Coughlin.

Uriell was last, needing eagle to win and birdie to tie, two-
putting from 20 feet to join the playoff fray. After Granada
missed the green left at 18 (and for the second time, she
nearly holed her pitch shot), Coughlin again hit a magnificent
shot, setting up a 15-foot eagle attempt that she missed on
the high side.

The stage then was Uriell’s and she took advantage, pumping
her right fist as the ball vanished into the hole.

“She’s always been very tough-minded in a good way,”
said Mexico’s Regina Plasencia, Uriell’s former teammate at
Arkansas who was there to shower her with water on the 18th
green. “She knows her game, she knows what works for her,
and she sticks to that. When she hits a bad shot, it’s always,
‘Oh well.’ She moves on to the next one. But she plays hard.
This eagle on the last hole kind of gives you a hint of it.”

Uriell gained LPGA status through the Q-Series in 2018
and was off to the LPGA to begin her rookie season at the
Founders Cup in Arizona, where she tied for 40th.

It will give me the confidence that I need to get into the LPGA
and feel at home,” Uriell said. “I also learned a lot. I think
the learning process early on is going to help me get a good
start on the LPGA.

“I’m going to remember making that eagle putt for a long
time. I was definitely nervous, but really the best part was
that I embraced the nerves, visualized the shot and it turned
out really good. If you told me this before the week started,
I wouldn’t believe you. It feels really good. It was such an
honor to play in this tournament.”

28 SPRING.SUMMER.2019 SWFL 240.832.3237 www.SWFLORIDAgolfmag.com