Jo Jo Robertson

Jo Jo Robertson, a veteran of six Women's Amateur Public Links Championships despite being just 19 years old, put that experience to good use this year at Hominy Hill Golf Course in Colts Neck, N.J. She defeated Betsy Drambour of Ballston Lake, N.Y., by a score of 2 and 1 in the final match for her first victory since winning the 1994 New Mexico state high school championship.

Robertson and Hominy Hill got along like old friends. During the early matches, Jo Jo had intermittent problems with her driver, but the thick, bluegrass rough that produced a slew of bogeys for others rarely made her pay for her mistakes.

Although Robertson was the only semifinalist to return from the previous year, she wasn't considered the player to beat until the quarter-final round when she bested 18-year-old Jenny Lee of Fullerton, Calif., 1 up. Lee had been the medallist by shooting 2-under-par 144, the only player to finish under par.

Robertson showed tenacity in the final match. She fell two holes down after the ninth, but eventually clawed her way back into contention. The climax of the match remained her 7-iron approach to the 17th green, which came to rest only a few feet from the hole to seal her victory.

Jo Jo, by virtue of her win, becomes the second native of Roswell, N.M. to hold a USGA trophy. Nancy Lopez, the LPGA Hall of Famer, won the U.S. Girls' Junior in 1972 and 1974 - a couple of years before Robertson was born.