Championship Form

In May, Dartmouth junior Sue Johnson had a decision to make. Usually frugal, she wondered, should she spend $35 on a new sand wedge, a nifty Tom Watson model, or make do with her old club?

After a weekend of debate, the 21-year- old Johnson splurged, making the most important move of her young golf career.

In Watsonesque fashion, Johnson used that club to strike one of the most dramatic shots ever witnessed in the 45-year history of the New Hampshire Women's Golf Association Championship. Trailing Keene's Kristie Kamal by one shot on the final hole of the stroke play tournament at Lake Sunapee Country Club, Johnson did the improbable, the unexpected just as Watson did on Pebble Beach's 17th hole in the 1982 U.S. Open.

The odds were not on her side, but the fates were. The lie was poor, there was little green to work with, and the putting surface sloped away dramatically. But Johnson delicately struck the ball with her new sand wedge and watched as it curved into the cup for a birdie three and the 1983 crown, joining the company of LPGA tourists Pat Bradley (1967, 1969) and Jane Blalock (1965, 1966, 1968).

A "B" student in psychology with two honor citations, Johnson is a new breed of athlete at Dartmouth. She is a Hanover native and the daughter of Bill Johnson '53, her sometimes caddie, captain of the youngest women's sport, varsity golf, and the number one player as well. "I could have gone South to school," she said, "But the sacrifice to play number five or six wouldn't equal the rewards. Here I contribute in every match. And I'm getting a Dartmouth education there's no better experience."

Johnson did make personal sacrifices this summer to fulfill her dream of a state championship. Out of bed at 7 a.m. on a typical summer day, she would set up shop on one of the secluded practice areas neighboring the Hanover Country Club links, hitting shag balls and retrieving them, over and over.

And then onto the practice green for as much as two hours of putting. "That's one area I concentrated on," she explained. "I needed to minimize those three-putts and make more birdies."

Chipping with that Watson wedge follows a quick sandwich, and Johnson often ended the afternoon with 18 holes of golf while mother Nancy kept supper warm.

As the state amateur titlist, Johnson certainly earned the right to relax and bask in the glow of a job well done. Instead, she began swinging a broom to increase her distance. Incredible? At 5-4 and poundfor-pound one of New England's longest hitters, Sue Johnson simply wanted to hit those pinnacles even farther than the 225 yards she routinely drives.

An entrant in numerous national tournaments including the U.S. Amateur, the Western and the Trans-National, Johnson stayed closer to home this summer. "I almost went into seclusion getting ready for the state am," she said, foregoing her usual Softball and basketball sidelights. "But I couldn't justify playing in the Amateur when I hadn't proven myself here in New Hampshire."

She needn't worry she's proven stuff now, bringing a gleam to the eye of Dartmouth Coach Izzy Emslie Johnson (no relation). The third-year coach has a definite number one player and two stand-outs who finished tied for 11th in the field of 100 at Lake Sunapee–senior Cindy Vaios of Manchester and freshman Tammy MacAllister of Keene.

Sue Johnson '85 concentrates on an 8-foot putt.Already a tested veteran of the amateur golfcircuit, Sue has tasted victory on the links morethan most of us.