Mary Miller prevails despite Emilia Doran’s remarkable rally In her Women's North & South Amateur debut, Mary Miller triumphs after building a huge lead

Women’s Scores

By Alex Podlogar

Emilia Doran kept putting her glove back on.

Four-down with four to play in the championship match of the 124^th Women’s North & South Amateur on Saturday, Doran walked off the 15^th green after making a gutsy 8-footer to get up and down and save par.

Her opponent, Mary Miller, who led by as many as five holes through 8, had a nasty downhill slider coming. Make it, and she wins the match and enters the same rarefied North & South air that Doran has been in since winning in 2022.

As Miller lined up the putt, Doran pulled her golf glove from where it was tucked into the waistband of her skort and pulled the Velcro. Then she slipped it on.

And Miller missed.

On 16, 3-down with three to play, Doran made birdie from the greenside bunker. They went to 17.

On the par-3 17th, Miller’s tee shot sailed wide right, landing in the bunker. Her pitch slipped 6 feet past. Doran, whose ball had trickled to the back fringe, hit a tidy chip to pick-up range. She walked to the back of the green – and put her glove on.

Miller missed again.

“Oh my god, I’m doing it again,” Miller thought to herself.

On 18, both players blasted drives. Doran put her approach to 6 feet above the hole. Miller responded with a good shot 15 feet from the cup. Miller left it short. Doran poured it in.

Elation. Horror. Pumped-fist. Slow walk. A throaty one-sided gallery jubilant at a truly remarkable comeback. Slumped shoulders.

Tied. Tied.

They went to the first hole for the playoff. Again, both blasted drives. Both hit good enough approach shots. Doran’s putt from 25 feet drifted three feet to the right. Miller had a good look up the hill from about 20 feet.

Somehow, Miller’s ball stayed out, hovering on the edge. She looked at it in utter disbelief.

Doran lined up her par putt to extend the match. The horror show Miller was living through – up 4 holes with just four to play – was continuing in extra holes. Her pace had slowed while Doran’s and her healthy following’s had picked up. Few were rooting for Miller versus the popular Doran, the 27-year-old career amateur and champion who broadcasts for Golf Channel. Red-faced as temperatures soared above 100 degrees for the entire match, Miller could barely watch anymore.

Then Doran missed with one of the harshest lip-outs you will ever see.

“I’m just in shock,” Miller said with a smile weighted in equal parts relief and sheer joy. “That was crazy. I am really, honestly speechless. I don’t know what to say. That’s probably not helpful.”

And finally, a laugh. A well-earned laugh.

Miller, a sophomore at Mississippi, is a fine player. She won last season and has finished as the runner-up in three of her last five events, which includes the SEC Championship and the Southwestern Amateur.

But, that’s the thing. Finishing second…

“I know I’m capable, but I haven’t been able to close out the last few,” she said. “It’s been tough being second, but it just shows how tough it actually is to win. I’m very grateful to finally get it done this week.”

It was a breeze for a while. Her approach shot on the second hole was so close Doran picked up for Miller and handed her the conceded birdie. She hit another one close on 3 and won the hole when Doran three-putted from 10 feet. Her eagle was conceded on 5, then won 7 with a par and 8 with a bogey to push her lead to 5-up.

Doran birdied 9, but made double on 10 to fall back behind by five. But a birdie on 11 helped, and after halving the next three holes with pars, the up-and-down on 15 gave Doran some life.

And then it just got worse for Miller, who began to see the recent runner-ups as near-misses instead of near-wins.

“Doubt starts to creep in and you think, ‘I’m really not going to do it again,’” she said.

But she hung in there, and the tee shots and approaches on 18 and 1 showed that Miller does indeed have something special inside.

“Being in position,” she said. “Just staying in position. Being present. In position. In position. In position. And just staying in it. Keep yourself present.  Even teeing off on 18, I thought, ‘You know, five days ago I would’ve killed for this.’ I was just trying to be grateful.”

In the end, she had her ball in hand last, and now can cradle the Putter Boy trophy forever.

“It just means so much,” she said. “This place is so special and historic. I remember in junior golf growing up, my parents were always like, ‘OK, Pinehurst. That’s the Big One.

“That’s history.”