Kellee Booth

School: Santa Margarita Sport: Golf Class: Junior Late in her round at the CIF-Southern Section team championship at Stockdale Country Club in Bakersfield June 7, Booth was in a fine position, three-over-par with five holes to go. Then things fell apart and Booth finished with a 79 after a bogey, two double bogeys and two pars. She hoped the rocky finish wouldn't hurt her team's chances at the title, but feared the worst.

Kellee Booth has been named the inaugural winner of the Nancy Lopez Award, which will be given to the world's outstanding female amateur golfer. Booth, a former standout at Santa Margarita High, was the top-ranked amateur in 1999. She won four events and was a semifinalist in the U.S. Women's Amateur, and now plays on the LPGA Tour.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot a 71 Monday to cruise to a seven-shot victory in the Golf for Women Magazine tournament played on The Wigwam Resort par-70 Blue course in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Booth, a sophomore at Santa Margarita High School, shot a 73 in the first round Saturday and came back with a 69 Sunday to finish with a three-day total of 213. Betty Chen of La Quinta, Calif., was second at 220.

How monotonous: 70, 70, 70, 70. This may sound like the weather forecast. But it's what Kellee Booth shot during four rounds of some of the most tense, taut, stomach-churning, palm-sweating golf you can imagine. Booth, a 23-year-old from Coto de Caza who has jet-black hair and who can make a perfect stranger seem a best friend in one afternoon, shot those four 70s to earn her LPGA card for the 2000 season. More than 100 golfers gathered in hurricane-humbled Daytona Beach last month.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot a one-under-par 71 to tie for the lead after the first day of the Betsy Rawls Girls' National Championship at the Hercules Country Club in Wilmington, Del. Booth is tied with Stephanie Sparks of Wheeling, W.Va. Booth shot par 36 on the front and was one under on the back nine of the 6,015-yard course. The tournament is scheduled to end Thursday. Booth won the Oklahoma Junior tournament in July.

Miscellany Kellee Booth, a senior on the Arizona State golf team, is the winner of the Honda Award as the top collegiate women's golfer. Booth, a former Santa Margarita High standout, finished fourth in the NCAA tournament, helping the Sun Devils to their second consecutive team title and third in her four years at the school. Alan Burke hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the visiting Vigilantes beat Reno, 14-5.

Maury Beasley of Dublin, Ga., beat Tiger Woods of Cypress, 1-up, in the first round of match play at the American Junior Golf Assn. Rolex Junior tournament Saturday. Beasley, 18, who will attend Georgia next fall, overcame a sluggish start at the La Paloma Country Club to defeat Woods, the defending champion and 1992 medalist. Tied heading into the final hole, Beasley's drive landed in the fairway and Woods pulled his to the left.

Kellee Booth has been named the inaugural winner of the Nancy Lopez Award, which will be given to the world's outstanding female amateur golfer. Booth, a former standout at Santa Margarita High, was the top-ranked amateur in 1999. She won four events and was a semifinalist in the U.S. Women's Amateur, and now plays on the LPGA Tour.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot par 72 and finished third Friday in the Maxfli PGA Junior Championship on the Pinehurst No. 4 golf course in Pinehurst, N.C. Booth finished with a four-round total of one-over 289, 10 strokes behind Erika Hayashida of Lima, Peru, who finished with a 65. Betty Chen of La Quinta finished a stroke ahead of Booth. Alicia Allison of Santa Ana was fifth at 292.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot a first-round 78 Thursday and trails leader Betty Chen of Canada by two strokes in the American Junior Golf Assn. Rolex Junior tournament at Tucson. Booth shot a 37 on the back nine of the par-72, 5,825-yard course at the La Paloma Country Club to finish the first round in second place. Eunice Choi of Dove Canyon had a first-round 81 and Alicia Allison of Santa Ana shot an 86.

Kellee Booth, the nation's top-ranked amateur, rallied for two victories Wednesday in the U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship and record-setting medalist Natalie Gulbis lost in the second round. Candie Kung of Fountain Valley scored the biggest upset of the day and also won twice. Booth, a former Arizona State star from Coto de Caza who is expected to turn pro following this event, advanced to the round of 16 for the fourth time in the last six years.

Kellee Booth has a special desire to win the U.S. Women's Amateur title. After all, it's just about the only amateur championship her mother never won. "I definitely have a big goal in mind this week," Booth said. "I want to do this week what my mother couldn't." Booth shot a six-under-par 66 Wednesday at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., shattering all stroke play qualifying records to run away with medalist honors.

Kellee Booth, a four-time All-American golfer at Arizona State, has been selected to compete on the U.S. Curtis Cup team for its biennial match against a team from Great Britain and Ireland, Aug. 1-2, in Minneapolis. Booth, 22, who graduated from Santa Margarita High, played on the 1996 Curtis Cup team and has a record of 0-1 in foursomes competition and 1-1 in singles.

Miscellany Kellee Booth, a senior on the Arizona State golf team, is the winner of the Honda Award as the top collegiate women's golfer. Booth, a former Santa Margarita High standout, finished fourth in the NCAA tournament, helping the Sun Devils to their second consecutive team title and third in her four years at the school. Alan Burke hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the visiting Vigilantes beat Reno, 14-5.

There's little doubt Kellee Booth could make a comfortable living playing professional golf. A three-time All-American at Arizona State (almost certainly on her way to a fourth such honor), Booth has risen to the top of the game at every level: junior, amateur and collegiate. So as she enters her final month of college golf ranked third in the nation, Booth is starting to plan her next step. The surprise is that it might not be the LPGA Tour. Would you believe graduate school?

There's no doubt Arizona State golfer Kellee Booth is a winner. She won the 1993 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship and more than a score of other junior golf trophies and is the nation's top-ranked female amateur. But after nearly two full years with the Sun Devils, Booth has yet to win a collegiate tournament. So is there a problem? Is Booth, who grew up in Coto de Caza and attended Santa Margarita High, losing it? No way, said Arizona State Coach Linda Vollstedt.

Kellee Booth, a four-time All-American golfer at Arizona State, has been selected to compete on the U.S. Curtis Cup team for its biennial match against a team from Great Britain and Ireland, Aug. 1-2, in Minneapolis. Booth, 22, who graduated from Santa Margarita High, played on the 1996 Curtis Cup team and has a record of 0-1 in foursomes competition and 1-1 in singles.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot a two-over-par 74 Thursday to retain a share of the lead in the girls' division after two rounds of the Wilson Geneva National Junior Golf Championship in Lake Geneva, Wis. Heather Graff of Kennewick, Wash., shot a second-round 73 to move into tie with Booth at 146. The two are five shots ahead of their closest pursuers.

Kellee Booth tried to block out the thoughts. Sure, it was her first U.S. Women's Open, but it wasn't the first time she would be playing against the world's best golfers. This spring, Booth, 18, from Coto de Caza, played in the Dinah Shore, one the LPGA's major tournaments, and missed the cut by one stroke. So while teeing off last Thursday at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich., Booth was telling herself this was just another tournament.

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza shot par 72 and finished third Friday in the Maxfli PGA Junior Championship on the Pinehurst No. 4 golf course in Pinehurst, N.C. Booth finished with a four-round total of one-over 289, 10 strokes behind Erika Hayashida of Lima, Peru, who finished with a 65. Betty Chen of La Quinta finished a stroke ahead of Booth. Alicia Allison of Santa Ana was fifth at 292.