Resorters Golf Tournament: Leland rolls over teammate to earn third Women's title

• Leland

Maggie Leland’s short game helped carry her to her third Resorters Women’s Division title. She defeated Emily Kvidera in the final, 7-6. (Echo Press photo by Al Edenloff)

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Alexandria’s Maggie Leland found herself in a familiar setting at the Alexandria Golf Club on Saturday afternoon.

The two-time Resorters champion was right back in a tournament finals match, battling for her third Women’s title against her current Augustana College teammate, Emily Kvidera of Ramsey.

At last year’s tournament, Leland was edged out in the semifinals by Kvidera, the division’s eventual champion, in a hard-fought 1-up duel. Leland went into Saturday’s championship fully prepared for another long battle.

“From the beginning, I just had the mindset that this would be an 18-hole match,” she said.

She also tried to clear her mind of how last year’s contest ended – a dramatic turnaround on the 18th green when Kvidera drained a 30-foot birdie putt to win it while Leland missed a five-footer that would have sent the match to extra holes.

This year, Leland started the match off on fire, winning the first six holes and coasting to an easy 7-6 win. She birdied Nos. 2, 3 and 5 to jumpstart her round. She finished the front 6-up after shooting 2-under through her first nine.

“It was not the way I wanted to win,” Leland said. “And it’s not the way our matches usually go…I just made a lot of birdies in streaks.”

Leland, who is a junior at Augustana, said she would “definitely” be back to defend her title next year. She played solid golf throughout the tournament, even carding a 31 on the back nine during qualifying, tying her all-time best.

WOMEN’S DIVISION

CHAMPIONSHIP

Maggie Leland def. Emily Kvidera, 7-6

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