Sunday, July 22, 2001
The Florida native shot a 7-under in her final round to become Avalon's first two-time LPGA champion.
HOWLAND -- Michelle McGann became the first two-time champion of an LPGA event in the Youngstown area when she set a tournament record in winning the 1996 Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic at Avalon Lakes.
The Singer Island, Fla., native burned up the course with a 16-under-par 200 for 54 holes and won by three shots over Kim Saiki.
It marked only the second time in seven tournaments in the Valley which did not end in a playoff as McGann blistered the field with a tournament record 64 in the second round and followed that with a 65 in the final round.
McGann took home the $90,000 first place check, while Saiki, who finished with three rounds in the 60s, was second at 203 and took home $55,855.
The followers: Kelly Robbins fashioned a final-round 68 and finished all alone in third place with a 205 total while Laurie Brower equaled McGann's final round 65 and was fourth at 206.
A group of four golfers, including 1994 champion Tammie Green, were bunched at 207.
The other three were Janet Anderson, Vicki Goetz, and Deb Richard.
The tournament opened with Barb Mucha, Kelly Robbins and Amy Fruhwirth all shooting first round 67s to share the lead.
McGann had an opening round 71 as she struggled through the first seven holes in 4-over-par. She then played the final 11 holes in 5-under including an eagle-3 on the par-5 18th hole. Saiki shot an opening round of 68.
McGann continued her assault in the second round with her record 64 that included eight birdies. She still trailed second round leader Deb Richard by one shot. Richard was at 134, while McGann and Saiki were tied at 135, with Karrie Webb at 136.
Blistering round: In the final round McGann pulled away from everyone. She shot a 3-under-par 33 on the front side and finished at 4-under 32 on the back to break tournament record of 203 by three shots.
The record was originally set by Nancy Lopez and Deb Richard back in 1993, the first year of this event.
McGann trailed second round leader Richard by one shot going into the round and finished seven shots ahead of her. McGann played the final 47 holes of the tournament in 20-under-par, after starting out 4-over-par for the first seven holes.
She also played the stretch holes very well as she was 8-under-par for the three days over the final five holes of the course.