Central Michigan University Athletics
Elise Fennell of Caledonia, who will join the CMU women's golf program this fall, reached the semifinals of the Michigan Women's Amateur on Friday.
CMU's Fennell Bows in Michigan Women's Amateur Semifinal
7/24/2026 1:06:00 PM | Women's Golf
ROCHESTER – Central Michigan golfer Elise Fennell bowed on Friday in the semifinals of the Michigan Women's Amateur, falling 1-down to Bridget Boczar of Canton during the 110th playing of the state's premier amateur golf tournament at Katie-Cousins Golf & Learning Center on the campus of Oakland University.
Boczar, who played at Oakland for two collegiate seasons before finishing her career at Baylor, was scheduled to face Lauren Timpf of Macomb in Friday afternoon's title match.
Fennell, who hails from Caledonia, will join the Chippewa golf program this fall after spending two years at Illinois State. She finished runner-up in the 2024 Michigan Women's Amateur and 2026 marked the third consecutive year in which she has made it as far as the semifinals.
She found herself 2-down to Boczar through seven holes but battled back and birdied No. 12 to even the match. Boczar birdied No. 16 to go 1-up and then held off Fennell over the final two holes. Fennell's birdie putt from 10 feet on No. 18 slid off the cup.
"It went over the edge," Fennell said. "I thought it was in the whole way. I played really well. I think I was 1-over (par) for the round. (Boczar) just made one more putt than me, honestly."
Fennell, a graduate of East Kentwood High School, placed third in the 84-player field in stroke play with a 1-under 143, four shots behind Timpf, who claimed medalist honors. Fennell rebounded from an opening-round 3-over 75 with a 4-under 68, which tied her for the third best round in stroke play.
"The first day (of stroke play) I lost one ball in the trees and another one I hit in a hazard, but other than that I played really well," she said. "I was really happy with it. The second day, I just made more putts, kept the ball in play, kept hitting shots close. That kind of gave me confidence going into match play."
Fennell opened match play on Wednesday by outlasting Mia Melendez of Ann Arbor in 20 holes in the round of 32. On Thursday, Fennell won, 3 and 2, over Logan Bentley of Addison in the round of 16 and then posted a 4 and 3 quarterfinal victory over Ashleigh Duflo of Ada. Melendez plays at Howard, Bentley at Oakland, and Duflo at Findlay.
Fennell went into No. 18 against Melendez 1-down and evened the match with a birdie. She got up and down for a gritty par on the first extra hole and then birdied the second to pull out the victory.
Bolstered by that come-from-behind win, Fennell took the lead on the fifth hole of her round-of-16 match and never looked back, and she went 2-up through two holes of her quarterfinal and cruised from there.
"To make it to the fifth day is always incredible," Fennell said. "The field this year, I think, was even more stacked than the last couple of years. I didn't have a ton of confidence going into this tournament. I was playing OK, but not playing great, so to play well and make it this far against a bunch of other talented college golfers, I was really happy with it."
Fennell was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 at Illinois State and in 2025-26 led the Redbirds in scoring average (74.9) and posted two top-five finishes among five top 10s. At East Kentwood, Fennell was a four-time All-State honoree and four times finished in the top 10 at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division I State Finals, including a first-place finish in 2023.
Two other CMU golfers, sophomore-to-be Zoe Dull and junior-to-be Brooke Morris, participated in the Women's Amateur.
Morris, who hails from Canton, tied for 26th at 157 (78-79) in stroke play and then posted a 1-up victory over 2019 champion and the 2025 runner-up Elayna Bowser of Dearborn in the round of 32. Morris then bowed in the round of 16, 6 and 4, to Kate Brody of Grand Blanc. Brody is a member of the women's golf team at Wisconsin.
Dull shot 82-79 – 161 in stroke play and failed to make the 32-player match play field.
Boczar, who played at Oakland for two collegiate seasons before finishing her career at Baylor, was scheduled to face Lauren Timpf of Macomb in Friday afternoon's title match.
Fennell, who hails from Caledonia, will join the Chippewa golf program this fall after spending two years at Illinois State. She finished runner-up in the 2024 Michigan Women's Amateur and 2026 marked the third consecutive year in which she has made it as far as the semifinals.
She found herself 2-down to Boczar through seven holes but battled back and birdied No. 12 to even the match. Boczar birdied No. 16 to go 1-up and then held off Fennell over the final two holes. Fennell's birdie putt from 10 feet on No. 18 slid off the cup.
"It went over the edge," Fennell said. "I thought it was in the whole way. I played really well. I think I was 1-over (par) for the round. (Boczar) just made one more putt than me, honestly."
Fennell, a graduate of East Kentwood High School, placed third in the 84-player field in stroke play with a 1-under 143, four shots behind Timpf, who claimed medalist honors. Fennell rebounded from an opening-round 3-over 75 with a 4-under 68, which tied her for the third best round in stroke play.
"The first day (of stroke play) I lost one ball in the trees and another one I hit in a hazard, but other than that I played really well," she said. "I was really happy with it. The second day, I just made more putts, kept the ball in play, kept hitting shots close. That kind of gave me confidence going into match play."
Fennell opened match play on Wednesday by outlasting Mia Melendez of Ann Arbor in 20 holes in the round of 32. On Thursday, Fennell won, 3 and 2, over Logan Bentley of Addison in the round of 16 and then posted a 4 and 3 quarterfinal victory over Ashleigh Duflo of Ada. Melendez plays at Howard, Bentley at Oakland, and Duflo at Findlay.
Fennell went into No. 18 against Melendez 1-down and evened the match with a birdie. She got up and down for a gritty par on the first extra hole and then birdied the second to pull out the victory.
Bolstered by that come-from-behind win, Fennell took the lead on the fifth hole of her round-of-16 match and never looked back, and she went 2-up through two holes of her quarterfinal and cruised from there.
"To make it to the fifth day is always incredible," Fennell said. "The field this year, I think, was even more stacked than the last couple of years. I didn't have a ton of confidence going into this tournament. I was playing OK, but not playing great, so to play well and make it this far against a bunch of other talented college golfers, I was really happy with it."
Fennell was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 at Illinois State and in 2025-26 led the Redbirds in scoring average (74.9) and posted two top-five finishes among five top 10s. At East Kentwood, Fennell was a four-time All-State honoree and four times finished in the top 10 at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division I State Finals, including a first-place finish in 2023.
Two other CMU golfers, sophomore-to-be Zoe Dull and junior-to-be Brooke Morris, participated in the Women's Amateur.
Morris, who hails from Canton, tied for 26th at 157 (78-79) in stroke play and then posted a 1-up victory over 2019 champion and the 2025 runner-up Elayna Bowser of Dearborn in the round of 32. Morris then bowed in the round of 16, 6 and 4, to Kate Brody of Grand Blanc. Brody is a member of the women's golf team at Wisconsin.
Dull shot 82-79 – 161 in stroke play and failed to make the 32-player match play field.
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