Hempfield girls golf coach Katie Miller Gee wins 1st match at U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

Katie Miller Gee advanced through stroke play and never trailed in her opening match at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Stonewall Golf Club in Elverson.

Gee, the girls golf coach at Hempfield, where she is one of the school’s most celebrated champions, cruised past Marissa Mar of Palo Alto, Calif, 5 and 3, to move into Tuesday’s second round.

Gee, the No. 23 seed, will take on a familiar opponent in No. 10 Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn, Va. The pair are former U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball teammates.

With a 3-up lead heading to the back nine, Gee won the par-4 10th with a par before closing out the match with a birdie on the par-4 15th.

Gee, a WPIAL Hall of Famer, posted a 5-over 147 with rounds of 70 and 77 to finish inside the top 64 in the qualifying rounds.

She has reached match play in all eight of her Mid-Am appearances and made the quarterfinals in 2016 and ‘19.

At the men’s U.S. Mid-Amateur, Ross Township’s Nathan Smith missed the cut for match play at Sleepy Hollow Country Club and Fenway Golf Club in Scarborough, N.Y. (74-71).