Isabella Johnson First Round Leader At Tennessee Women’s Amateur

Despite being only 18-years old, Isabella Johnson has shown wisdom beyond her years when it comes to unlocking the mystery of how to successfully navigate around the historic layout at Chattanooga Golf & Country Club.

The Murfreesboro native was the lone golfer under par in Tuesday’s opening round of the 93^rd Tennessee Women’s Amateur, posting a 1-under 70 to lead Jackson’s Tori Robinson by a single stroke.

With gnarly rough and lightning-fast greens creating a defense for the venerable Riverview course, Johnson was able to consistently find the fairway while avoiding dastardly three-putts to grab the lead in only her second Women’s Amateur.

“I was driving the ball well for most of the day,” Johnson said. “Just putting the ball in the fairway is huge because the rough is so thick out there this week. If you can get through those first six holes around even or 1-over, you’re setting yourself up for a pretty decent day.”

After a bogey at the par-5 4th hole, Johnson covered her next nine holes in 2-under with birdies at 7 and 11. But it was a par at the challenging No. 6 that gave her confidence a needed boost.

“The par I had on 6 was a huge momentum swing,” Johnson said. “Anybody who has played out there knows how tough that hole can be, and then I turned around and birdied 7.”

Johnson laid up short of the pond on No. 11, then hit a deft approach to 15-feet which she drained for birdie to move to 1-under for her round. A rare missed fairway on No. 14 led to a bogey, then a final birdie on 16 nudged her back into red figures.

“I really like it out there. It's such a good property,” Johnson said. “I would think anything close to par is going to be a good score, and anything under par is going to be a great round. So, I was happy with that.”

Johnson was named 2024 Tennessee Golf Association Girls’ Junior Player of the Year before skipping her final semester at Providence Christian Academy to enroll at Tennessee. She competed in three tournaments for the Lady Vols this spring, then opted to return closer to home by transferring to Middle Tennessee State for the upcoming season.

She qualified for both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur in 2023, and was part of three TSSAA Division II-A state champions at PCA while winning the individual state crown last fall.

Johnson already has a Tennessee Golf Association title to her name after teaming up with defending Women’s State Amateur champion Bella Bugg to capture the 2022 Tennessee Women’s Four-Ball event by a whopping ten shots when she was only 15. She was also awarded the SNEDS Tour Player of the Year in both 2021 and 2023.

While hesitant to look beyond Wednesday’s second round, Johnson understands the impact of adding a Women’s State Amateur title to her already impressive resume’.

“I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself, but just to be in Tennessee watching the girls I look up to win this thing year after year, I would love to put my name on the trophy,” Johnson said. “I feel like it's coming soon. If it's not this year, it'll be in the next couple years but I'd love to get it done this week.”

After starting out 2-over through the first six holes of her round, Robinson rebounded by covering her final 12 holes in an impressive 2-under to finish her day at even par 71.

Tied for 3^rd at 1-over 72 are Ole Miss rising junior and four-time Tennessee Player of the Year Sophie Linder of Carthage along with Ava Bankston, a Franklin resident who plays collegiately at Rhodes College.

Three golfers are knotted in 5^th place with scores of 2-over 73 including Kentucky standout Karlie Campbell of Ethridge, who already earned her spot into the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes by virtue of her finish in last week’s local qualifier. Joining her are Johnson’s future teammate at MTSU, Jillian Bowman of College Grove, as well as 15-year-old Addisyn Newman of Knoxville.

Former U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Blakesly Brock of Chattanooga is among seven golfers who finished at 3-over 74. After winning her national title in 2021, the former Baylor School and Tennessee golfer was competing in her first tournament in nearly two years after battling an ongoing painful nerve issue that required surgery.

Brock found herself 3-over through three holes, but managed to complete the balance of her loop in even par to produce an encouraging result on her home course.

“I got off to a bit of a shaky start, but I’m really proud of myself the way I battled all day long after that,” Brock said. “Once I got the feel of the greens, I was just having a fun time competing again, especially with it being at home and having a lot of friends and family around. Now that the first-round jitters are out of the way, I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.”

Others tied with Brock in 8^th place are Antioch’s Boonchita Sriwongngam, Hannah Nall of Cleveland, Caroline Pardue of Murfreesboro, Kelli Scheck of Ooltewah, Makenzie Cooper of Chattanooga and Knoxville’s Sydney Branson.

Bugg struggled in her opening round as defending champion, recording a score of 5-over 76 to land in a tie for 24^th. The Thompsons Station resident who will compete at Virginia Tech this fall was 1-under through her opening nine holes, then struggled to a 41 over the back side.

In the Flighted Division competition, Nashville’s Erica Chappell holds a one-shot lead over four challengers in the First Flight after shooting 10-over 81. In the Second Flight, Hazel Davis of Ooltewah, Michelle Dodson of McMinnville, Janice Sauter of Franklin and Elizabeth Lemons of Old Hickory are all deadlocked in the lead at 16-over 87. Julie Carlton of Hermitage and Linda Post of Brentwood are co-leaders at 19-over 90 in the Third Flight, while Jayna Jones of Maryville, Stephanie Coffey of South Pittsburg and Patty Jones of Hixson are tied at 22-over 93 for the lead in the Fourth Flight.

The Flighted Division will be first on the tee on Wednesday morning in their final round, followed by the second round of the Championship Division. The closing round of the Championship Division will take place on Thursday.

For complete results and Wednesday’s tee times, go to Tennessee Women's Amateur.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com