The Women’s Mid-Am leader only shoots below average at 6 months pregnant

At the 2024 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, held this year at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton, Mass., the historic course played hard in Round 1. It was so hard, in fact, that the scoring average in -Round 1 was 80.1, and only one player in the field managed to shoot under par.

That player was Alexandra Austin, who shot an opening round of two-under 70 – the only red number in the 132-player field – and more impressively, she did it six months pregnant. Austin’s baby boy is due in January.

Fairfax, a Va.-based insurance agent. and the experienced novice is competing in his fourth US Mid-Am. He reached the quarterfinals of last year’s edition of the tournament. She also reached the semifinals of the 2016 US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with teammate Lauren Greenlief.

Austin’s three-birdie, one-bogey round was highlighted by a near ace on the 218-yard par-3 17th at Brae Burn.

“I hit a 3-wood,” Austin told the USGA after his round. “It almost went in. I said, Oh it would be nice, then I can drink.”

Just behind Austin on the leaderboard is Jacqueline Setas at par, with three players playing at par, including last year’s US Women’s Mid-Am runner-up, Kelsey Chugg, and Austin’s former four-ball partner, Greenlief. Defending champion Kimberly Dinh was T23 after posting a 4-over 76.

Austin and the rest of the field will complete the stroke-play portion of the championship in Round 2 on Sunday. From there, the top 64 players will qualify for match play, with the Round of 64 on Monday, the Round of 32 and Round of 16 on Tuesday, the quarterfinals and semifinals on Wednesday, and the final 18-hole match. Thursday. You can follow the action here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of women’s varsity golfers, Jessica knows how to beat everyone on the golf course. He can pass them through the office, too, where he is primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s first Style Issue, which began in February 2018. His first interview series, “A Round With,” released in November 2015, and appeared in both magazine and video form on GOLF.com.