GOLF / WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP : McGill Starts Fast, Holds on to Win

Jill McGill opened an early lead and barely lasted to win the 93rd U.S. Women’s Amateur championship Saturday at hilly San Diego Country Club.

The USC senior from Denver had to sink an 18-inch putt on the 36th hole to clinch a hectic one-up victory over Nashville’s Sarah Ingram.

Ingram, who was four down after the morning 18 holes, rallied in the afternoon. She had a chance to send the match into overtime on the 36th hole, but her 15-foot chip curved away from the cup at the last instant.

“This is the most exciting day of my life,” said McGill, who sank a 50-foot uphill, downhill putt on the fifth hole to take the lead for good. “Sarah is a great player and I was fortunate to win it.”

Asked how long the last putt was, she spread her arms wide, laughed and said, “It was a long 18 inches.”

McGill, 21, wanted everyone to know where she was from. She wore a Denver Bronco golf cap and orange shorts.

The victory was a family affair. Her father, Gary, caddied for her. In the gallery of about 300, was her grandfather, George, and her brother Mike, who flew in from Dallas with his wife of a month late Friday night.

“It really pumped me up to see Mike,” she said. “I had no idea he was coming.”

Of by far the biggest victory in her career, McGill, 21, said that this week proved how much progress her game has made.

“By far this is my biggest moment. I have proved I can play with the best--and Sarah Ingram is one of the best.

“Even though I was four up after 18, I couldn’t feel confident. I had heard all week about how she birdied six holes in a row.

“That 50-foot putt was something. I was just trying to get close because Sarah was going to bogey. It just kept going. It was the first putt to drop for me all week and the last one, too. Neither one of us had any luck on putts.”

Ingram, 27, is a veteran of match play and started cautiously, expecting the inexperienced McGill to make mistakes. By the time she did, though, Ingram was already four down.

“I think maybe I was a little too careful early,” Ingram said. “But we both played well and it could have gone either way. I thought the chip on the last hole was in, but it turned off right at the hole.”

Near misses were the order of the day except for the 50-footer. Ingram, after shooting a six-over 79 in the morning, opened the afternoon by sinking a 10-footer for a birdie.

“That’s when I began to wonder if she was going to throw six birdies in a row at me,” McGill said.

When Ingram missed a four-footer on the par-three 13th, she was three down with five holes to go. The advantage should have been McGill’s, because two of the holes were par fives and the 6-foot McGill had been outdriving Ingram all day. But McGill bogeyed both holes to set up the dramatic finish.

“You just can’t bogey the five-pars in match play,” McGill said. “I bogeyed three of them in the afternoon. That’s terrible.”