2014 Champion Carmen Bandea
16th Connecticut Women’s Open
W
ith rough more difficult after a late
Tuesday rain storm, an overnight
temperature drop of thirty degrees,
and a stiff wind blowing throughout, the final 18
holes of the Connecticut Women’s Open was as
much a battle against the elements as an individual
competition. It turned out to be a two-woman
fight for the title between four-time champion Liz
Caron of Stamford, Conn., and 23 year-old Carmen
Bandea of Johns Creek, Georgia.
After 85-degree temperatures during the first
round, Wampanoag Country Club played 4-5 shots
tougher the second day with weather conditions
more commonly seen in the British Isles. First
round 68s fired by Caron and co-leader Lindsay
Ann Aho seemed to have happened in a previous
season as the leaders came back to par and all the
players bundled themselves in turtlenecks and rain
suits.
Bandea, after misfortune at the 8th when her
second shot to the par-5 buried under the lip of a
greenside bunker, displayed impressive composure
and determination. With little choice but to take an
unplayable lie in the bunker, Bandea produced a 6
on a hole she expected to birdie. “It was a tough
break,” said Bandea, “it wasn’t really that bad of a
shot. It was just about pin high and only about 20
feet left of the flag. If it lands one inch to the right
and takes any kind of bounce I’ve got an eagle
putt. But those are the breaks. I know it’s a cliché
but I really try to just play one shot at a time. So I
couldn’t let it bother me.”
After the debacle at the 8th, Bandea
orchestrated a spectacular run over the next seven
holes. She narrowly missed birdie at the difficult
9th then dropped an eight-footer at the 10th after
a brilliant approach. With that birdie, Bandea led
for the first time in the championship, by one over
Caron.
Caron responded with her own brand of
brilliance, rifling her second shot to ten feet on the
par-5 11th. Bandea also reached in two, but left
herself an impossible location far above the hole
on the treacherously sloped surface. The inevitable
three-putt for par gave Caron a chance for a twoshot swing, but her eagle attempt missed by a hair
leaving a tap-in birdie and once more, a share of
the lead.
At the 12th, also a par 5, Caron struck two
more beautiful shots to reach the green. From
forty feet her eagle attempt grazed the lip to yield
another tap-in birdie. Bandea then, from the back
apron, drained a thirty-foot birdie putt to match
Caron’s effort.