Minneapolis’ Betsy Aldrich was chatting with friends around the No. 16 green when the cork of a champagne bottle rolled across her foot. Her opponent, Molly Baker, got a head start on the celebration.
Aldrich brought home her seventh Resorters trophy on Saturday, including her fifth in the Women’s Executive Division. She beat Baker 4-2 to win her third straight title.
“Oh, the centennial was great this year,” Aldrich said. “It’s really exciting, and it’s even more fun that my significant other, Tom (Ryan), is up a couple of holes in his (Senior Championship) match out here too.”
Ryan ended up winning his match too to secure his first championship at the Resorters.
Aldrich took the lead with a birdie on the first hole and never looked back. While Aldrich pulled away early in all of her matches this week, Baker’s short game kept her within striking distance on the front nine.
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“Molly Baker’s short game is unbelievable,” Aldrich said. “She was out here all day making 20-foot putts. So she had me nervous.”
Trailing by two, Baker’s par on No. 7 cut the lead in half. Aldrich got it back on No. 8 with a par before taking the first two holes on the back nine. Aldrich went on to par the final two holes to win her seventh championship at the Alexandria Golf Club.
Aldrich played in the semifinal round on Saturday morning against Joan Frie where she came away with a 6-4 win. Frie’s win came with a birdie on hole 6, but Aldrich was steady around that in a round that was highlighted by birdie wins of her own at 8 and 11.
Baker pulled off a 2-up victory over the 2018 Women’s Executive Division champion, Jody Sullivan, during her semifinals match.
Aldrich was solid from start to finish last week. Her best match came in the quarterfinals against Liz Dowd.
“I played pretty steady this week, especially my match (on Friday),” Aldrich said, “I had 12 pars. I won on the 12th hole, and I literally had 12 pars. No bogeys and no birdies. That’s how I felt all week. I just felt steady.”
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For the first time in Resorters history, the Women’s Executive Division had a full field of qualifiers. To celebrate the occasion, the players got together during the week for a post-match gathering.
“We did a really fun thing and had a cocktail party,” Aldrich said. “We invited everybody in the whole, entire draw and their spouses and significant others on Tuesday night. This is a really fun group of women. There’s a contingent that comes up from Arizona and then all over the state. We all know each other, but then there’s a lot of new people too. It was fun to meet everybody, and it made for a very festive atmosphere.”
Aldrich took her champagne to go as she tried to track down Ryan in the closing holes of the Men’s Masters championship. She hopped in a cart with Baker in the passenger seat. Despite battling for nearly four hours for who would become champion, Aldrich and Baker showed that in the end, good people and good times matter most to players in this field.
“That’s what this is all about,” Aldrich said. “This is about the families and the people. Winning is fun, and it is competitive, but it’s left out there. I look forward to the people more than anything else.”
