Nancy Fitzgerald

Nancy Fitzgerald, 54, of Carmel, Ind., defeated Toni Wiesner, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas, 1 up, to win the 1997 USGA Senior Women's Amateur at the 5,721-yard Yeamans Hall Club in Charleston, S.C.

"It has not sunk in, but this is a dream that has been fulfilled," said Fitzgerald through tears shortly after winning her first national championship.

A winner of the 1997 Canadian Senior Women's Amateur, Fitzgerald closed the match on the par-5, 447-yard 18th hole when Wiesner left her approach shot short of the green and then failed to make a 15-foot putt for par.

"When she hit her shot short, all I thought was that I needed to leave my first putt below the hole," said Fitzgerald, who then made a 3-foot second putt on the final green for par and the win.

"There was such relief when that final putt went in. It felt like a 50-footer," she added. "I didn't want to go another hole with Toni."

Wiesner, who never led in the final, squared the match at the par-4, 321-yard 17th. Fitzgerald had just hit a 4-iron to within inches at the par-3, 154-yard 16th for birdie and a 1-up lead.

"It was the shot of the century for me," admitted Fitzgerald. "Even after losing the 17th hole, I didn't care. My adrenaline was going and I just wanted to get it done. And we did."

"I couldn't believe I chunked that 9 iron," said Wiesner of her shot that all but decided the match at the final hole. "All I had to do was hit it on the green and we were going extra holes."

Fitzgerald was 2 up heading to the 5th hole, after making consecutive birdies on nos. 3 and 4, until Wiesner sank a 15-foot putt for par on the par-4, 344-yard 8th to bring the match to within one. That standing remained unchanged until Fitzgerald three-putted from 20-feet at the par-3, 163-yard 13th to send the match back to all square.

"I didn't lose, we all won," said Wiesner, a life-time amateur who did not start playing golf until she was 23 years old. "She just played better today."

"I'm humbled," admitted Fitzgerald. "I never knew if I would win." A mother of four, Fitzgerald lost in an 18-hole playoff to two-time winner Marlene Streit in the 1994 playing of this championship for women age 50 or older. The pair had been dead-even as they approached the final hole.

"I was frustrated and angry," remembered Fitzgerald when asked of Streit's birdie at the 18th hole that day for the win. "After that, I put too much pressure on myself to win. I think that is why this is so hard to believe."

Over three hundred spectators followed Saturday's final match.

"The gallery really made it a national championship," said Fitzgerald. "It was awesome."