Resilient Redfern finally reaches top

BRYCE ALDERTON

After years of knocking at the door, Martha Redfern finally found the

key to unlock her first Big Canyon Country Club ladies championship.

Well, maybe a few keys.

“I took it one stroke at a time and I tried to eliminate the big

boo-boos and mental mistakes,” said Redfern, who claimed the title

with a six-shot victory over two-time defending champion Sally

Holstein last month.

Holstein held a one-shot lead after the first day, but Redfern

reversed order with a 6-over-par 78 on Day Two to move ahead by eight

strokes and a comfortable cushion from there.

Redfern said birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 during the second round

boosted her confidence.

She sealed her victory with a content par on the treacherous par-5

18th, exercising demons of rounds past.

Redfern, 43, runner-up to the ladies title the last several years

-- she joined Big Canyon in 1998 after moving from Mesa Verde Country

Club -- remembered one year when she came oh so close to tasting

victory.

“One year I had a two-stroke lead heading to the 18th hole,”

Redfern said. “I had a 70-yard shot in, but dumped it into the lake.

I lost in the playoff.”

She fared much better on the final hole on the finishing day this

time.

The 18th features a lake fronting the green, out of bounds right

and left and sand traps to cause even more sweat to bead on the

forehead.

Redfern split the fairway with her drive and landed on the green

safely in three shots and made par.

The victory seemed only a matter of time for Redfern, a 3

handicapper who started playing the game after her husband, Wayne,

bought her a set of clubs when the two were dating.

“His gift to me was giving me lessons,” Redfern, who played tennis

in high school and also showed horses, said. “He started young with

no lessons, so he figured it would prevent me from bad habits.”

It didn’t take long for Redfern, who has two boys ages 8 and 10,

to develop a love for the game.

“I love the competition and playing the game. I wish I would have

started younger, but what can you do?” Redfern said.

The love has translated to progressively lower scores, for

Redfern, who owns her own jewelry business. She attributes her rise

in golf to determination and a healthy dose of enjoyment.

She still takes lessons from two instructors, one being Big Canyon

head professional Clint Whitehill.

Whitehill, Redfern and Big Canyon men’s club champion Mike

Carpenter reached the quarterfinals of the Lexus Challenge, an event

that pits clubs from across Southern California in a nine-hole, best

ball competition against one another. Each club features a male and

female amateur and a pro.

The series airs on Fox Sports Net.

The Big Canyon trio was just two victories shy of representing

Southern California for the championship in Hawaii.

Redfern hopes to be in Richmond,Texas, come September.

For the first time, she will attempt to qualify for the United

States Golf Association’s women’s mid-amateur, scheduled Sept. 10-15

at Shadow Hawk Golf Club.

And why not.

Big Canyon will be one of two California sites hosting qualifying

rounds for the USGA women’s mid-am on Aug. 18.

Redfern figures she is on a roll and hopes it will continue.

“I have never been close to qualifying,” she said. “This year was

my year to win [the ladies club title], maybe it’s my year to

qualify. It’s my home course so there’s no excuse.”