Pham, Henderson, Sakamoto Earn 2024 Women’s City Am Title During Huge Golf Week
Lauren Pham (Championship), Ronda Henderson (Senior) and Yuna Sakamoto (Net) won titles in the 2024 Las Vegas Women’s City Amateur. The tournament was held June 1-2, 2024, at historic Las Vegas Golf Club as part of the 3rd Annual Las Vegas City Am Week organized by the Southern Nevada Golf Association and Women’s Southern Nevada Golf Association. — By Bill Bowman, LasVegasGolfInsider.com
Championship
Lauren Pham posted 15 birdies and an eagle over the two days in winning the Championship Division by 10 strokes.
Pham, a 2023 Bishop Gorman graduate, has had success in city amateur tournaments as she was third in the 2020 SNJGA Las Vegas City Junior Amateur in the girls 15-18 division.
She just finished her freshman year playing golf at the University of Kansas but is now in the transfer portal.
“It was a combination of everything,” she said about what were the keys to her victory. “I was hitting it well off the tee, I hit it pretty close a lot and standing over the ball I felt confident and could see the line very well on putts.”
She said the victory has her confidence high.
“I have a lot of tournaments lined up for the summer so this was a really great way to start it out,” she said. “It showed me a lot. I stayed confident in myself and that’s going to help me going forward.”
But she was quick to add there’s always room for improvement.
“There were a few putts and a few bogeys that were annoying,” she said. “A few of those would have made it even lower so I know there’s still work to do.”
Championship
Lauren Pham, 67-64—131
Mia Kim, 69-72—141
Millburn Ho, 73-72—145
Senior
Ronda Henderson had a roller-coaster two rounds en route to a seven-shot victory in the Senior Division.
Henderson had seven birdies, six bogeys and two double bogeys to go along with 21 pars.
She won the title for the second time and for the second straight year.
“I was even par on the front nine (Sunday) with two pars,” she said. “It was definitely feast or famine.”
She said her efforts on the green hurt her first round score.
“I didn’t hit the ball poorly (Saturday),” she said. “And I didn’t putt that badly. I just burned the edges all day. (Sunday) was night and day. I adjusted my reads and had five birdies. I had a 60-footer on a par-3 and a couple of other putts that could have gone in.”
She added the victory was validation of a swing change she’s working on.
“I’ve been taking some lessons and working on a pretty big swing change for me,” she said. “What I’m happy about is my swing didn’t fall apart this weekend. It didn’t feel comfortable but I’ll take being uncomfortable and see that it’s working.”
Senior
Ronda Henderson, 76-71—147
Regina Quintero, 77-77—154
Teresa Miller, 80-83—163
Net
Yuna Sakamoto played a four-hole stretch in five-under-par during the final round in cruising to the Net title.
Sakamoto had a net eagle and three net birdies over that stretch in winning her first city am crown.
“I can’t believe it…today wasn’t me,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t make mistakes that I usually make and that was the key.”
She said she relied on an improved short game.
“Usually my chipping is not that good,” she said. “But I’ve been taking lessons for my short game and I chipped well.”
And she said she knows about mistakes.
“I usually have mistakes on three, four or five holes and that hurts,” she said. “But I didn’t make them this weekend and that was good.”
Sakamoto added her confidence is on the rise.
“I’ve only been playing golf for four years,” she said. “And today was the best score since I’ve started. It was exciting.”
Net
Yuna Sakamoto, 75-63—138
Fay Geddes, 77-67—144
Susan Boswell, 73-72—145
