Tennessee rookie wins 34th US Women’s Mid-Amateur at Berkeley Hall

Blakesley Brock of Tennessee claimed the 34th annual US Women’s Mid-Amateur on Thursday at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton.

Brock, who was seeded No. 27 after stroke play, defeated No. 64 Aliea Clark 5 and 4 to win her first championship.

Brock was 1 down after the sixth hole but went on to win the next six holes to take command of the match. She clinched the title with a par on the par-3 14th hole.

Brock, of Chattanooga, Tenn., survived two extra-hole matches on Wednesday, including a birdie on the 19th hole to defeat 2018 champion Shannon Johnson in the semifinals.

Brock, who played collegiately at the University of Tennessee, opened up a 4-up advantage of Johnson, of North Easton, Mass., before suffering bogeys on four of her last five holes. Johnson converted a 12-foot par putt on the 18th hole to force extra holes. Brock, however, regained her form on the par-4 19th hole, the first hole of the North Course at Berkeley Hall, by making an uphill 15-foot birdie putt.

Clark, a native Southern Californian who is now attending graduate school at New York University, continued her magical run in South Carolina on Wednesday, defeating Amanda Jacobs, of Portland, Ore., 4 and 2, in the semifinals, and Dawn Woodard, of Greer, S.C., 4 and 3, in the quarterfinals earlier in the day. On Thursday, she’ll try to become the first No. 64 seed to win a USGA championship. Alexandra Frazier lost in the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur final at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla.