Stone, Whitney should feel right at home

When the 123rd Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship kicks off at Oak Hill Country Club on Monday, a pair of competing golfers should feel right at home.

Oak Hill members Mackenzie Whitney and Abby Stone will be part of the field looking to dethrone reigning champion Isabel Brozena of Indian Ridge Country Club and will do so on their home course.

Stone, who attends the University of Indianapolis, has earned match-play berths in two of the past three years, while Siena graduate Whitney has twice advanced to the Round of 16.

A Fitchburg native, the 21-year-old Stone is a rising junior in college and was a standout golfer at Fitchburg High School.

Whitney, of Westminster, became the youngest club champion at Oak Hill at age 16 and notched the first hole-in-one at Oak Hill’s par-4 9th hole. Now 22, Whitney has made the Round of 16 at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur in 2022 and 2024 and recorded five top-25 finishes and one top-10 finish during her senior season at Siena University.

Part of the first group that will tee off on Monday, Whitney takes to her home course for her opening round at 7:30 a.m. along with Molly Smith of Mount Pleasant Golf Club and the Ridge Club’s Emma Abramson. Stone tees off at 8:14 a.m., grouped with KOHR Golf’s Adriana Eaton and Katherine Ng of Nehoiden Golf Club.

This year’s field features an accomplished roster of past champions and rising stars. Defending champion Brozena, coming off a brilliant second season at Xavier University, returns to defend her crown after winning an 18th-hole thriller over Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea Golf Club) at Concord Country Club last summer. Johnson, the 2018 winner, joins 2023 victor Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) and Morgan Smith (Mount Pleasant Golf Club), the 2022 and 2024 champion, among the top headliners.

They’ll be pushed by a deep group of collegiate standouts and top contenders, including University of Central Florida standout Molly Smith, who is currently competing in match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She’ll be joined by Penn State’s Lillian Guleserian (Blue Hill Country Club), the New England Women’s Amateur winner; Megan Buck (Thorny Lea Golf Club), two-time Mass Golf Women’s Player of the Year; and Julia Imai (KOHR Golf), the 2024 finalist and a Division III standout at University of Wisconsin Stout.

Over the course of five days, Oak Hill — established in 1921 as a nine-hole course before expanding to 18 in 1927 — will put the field through a relentless 36-hole stroke play qualifier before trimming the leaderboard to a high-stakes, 32-player match play bracket.

The action kicks off Monday morning with 36 holes of stroke play through Tuesday, with the medalist taking home the Osgood Trophy. The Round of 32 and Round of 16 follow on Wednesday, leading into Thursday’s quarterfinals and semifinals, and culminating in Friday’s 18-hole championship match. Beyond the trophy, the champion will earn an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

Playing at approximately 6,114 yards, this year marks the longest course layout utilized for the Women’s Amateur in nearly a decade.