Hempfield coach Katie Miller Gee advances to U.S. Mid-Am match play

Katie Miller Gee is taking a break from coaching the Hempfield girls golf team to play in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

After a solid showing across 36 holes of stroke play, Gee is headed to the match play part of the tournament at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla. as the likely No. 3 seed.

Play was suspended at 7:26 p.m. Sunday due to darkness. Players will finish their second round beginning at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

The top 64 advance to match play. The event runs through Thursday.

Gee, playing on a special exemption from the USGA — a maternity deferral after she and her husband, Oakmont Country Club professional Devin Gee, welcomed their daughter, Clara, into the world about nine months ago — was alone in third place at 3-under 141 after carding rounds of 71 and 70.

The two-time quarterfinalist and alum of Hempfield and North Carolina trailed likely No. 1 and 2 seeds Jennifer Peng (-6) of San Diego, and Kelsey Chugg (-5) of Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is Gee’s 17th USGA championship. She was the co-medalist at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in Texas.

“I have a 10-month-old, so it’s my first time as a mom,” said Gee, 37. “It takes a village to run a golf tournament, and it takes a village to raise a baby. Thank God I have a freaking army.”

The Mid-Amateur is for female golfers who have reached the age of 25 by Sept. 17 and do not have a handicap higher than 9.4.