It was bound to happen, even though they hoped it wouldn’t come so early.
Cissye Gallagher, 48, the winner of a record 11 Mississippi Women’s Golf Association State Amateur titles, faced off this morning in the quarterfinals against Kathleen Gallagher, one of her two daughters playing in the golf tournament.
Taking advantage of a wayward tee shot on 18 by Kathleen, Cissye won the match 1-up with a par on the 18th hole.
Cissye’s oldest daughter, Mary Langdon Gallagher, the defending state amateur champion, defeated Millsaps golfer Lauren Durbin 3 and 2 this morning to advance to this afternoon’s semifinals. If she winsthat match, Mary Langdon will be playing for her third state am title and could possibly face her mother in Thursday’s finals.
The mother-daughter match started at 7 this morning. It was even through five holes, but Kathleen went 1 up on the par-5 sixth when her mom’s par putt lipped out.
Cissye, however, quickly evened the match on the next hole with a par.
They halved the eighth hole with pars before Cissye grabbed a 1-up lead at the turn with a birdie on the short par-4 ninth hole.
Cissye built a 2-up lead on the par-5 10th with another birdie, but Kathleen pulled within one with a par on the 11th.
Cissye defeated Shelia Hayes 5 and 4 in the first round of match play on Tuesday. Cissye had two birdies during a consistent round in match that lasted 14 holes. Also on Tuesday, Mary Langdon defeated Shannon Adams 4 and 2 after taking the 16th hole. Kathleen won her match over Madison Seay 4 and 2.
Greenwood’s April Leonard, who recently graduated from Pillow, lost on the last hole in the first round Tuesday to Southern Miss golfer McKenzie Kelly. Leonard is headed to William Carey University in Hattiesburg in the fall to play golf.
It was Leonard’s first time to play in the championship flight of the State Amateur.
