NEVERSINK--"The world of Neversink resident and former Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) champion Sherri Steinhauer now includes a national championship in the sport of Pickleball, labeled as the fastest growing sport in the world.
"Believe in
yourself...the world is yours to do as you please," retired fifty-four
year-old Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) golfer Sherri
Steinhauer told us while being interviewed for a golf feature in May of
2016 and now she has taken that belief to another level by winning her
first national Pickleball championship in the Mixed Skill Doubles 55+
4.5 bracket.
In
describing her national Pickleball championship win on Noverber 6
Steinhauer stated, "what an incredible experience with us starting at
11:45 a.m. and finishing the championship match at 9:10 p.m."
The USAPA
Nationals was held in Casa Grannde, Arizona and the championship venue
consisted of 32 dedicated courts each separated by fences.
With 18-teams
(male and female) in their bracket Sherri and her partner, Mike Moonan
from Palm Desert, California, won their first match but lost their
second match (three games to 11) which sent them down to the losers
bracket.
Steinhauer and
Moonan dug their way out of the losers bracket by winning their next
six matches, one game that went to 15 , back to three game to 11 and won
that and the 10th match was in the Gold Medal round against the team
they lost their second match to.
In the match
against the team that hadn't lost a game all day, Steinhauer and Moonan
won the first two games, 11-8 and 11-9 and with each team losing a match
they were forced to a playoff championship consisting of one game to
the winning score of 15........won by Sherri and her partner 15-11.
Sherri's
partner previously played professional tennis and the two have been
practicing for this event since they agreed to partner together a year
ago.
Steinhauer has
been playing pickleball for only 21 months, taking up the sport in
January 2016. She takes lessons from several pickleball professionals
during her winters in Palm Desert.
She has been a
great advocate of pickleball in Sullivan County where she organized the
Grahamsville Pickleball Club, now consisting of over 40 members with
pickleball courts set up at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds tennis court
area providing competition and lessons Saturday mornings. The first
annual Grahamsville Pickleball Tournament met with great success in
September.
With her
retirement from professional golf Sherri yearned for competition and
pickleball gave her the competition and the ability to stay in shape and
make new friends.
Steinhauer
earned more than $6 million during her 26-year golfing career, was an
All American at the Universaity of Texas before joining the LPGA tour in
1986, where she was an 8 time tournament winner, represented the USA on
4 Solheim Cup teams and was a three-time winner of the British Open.
Her brilliant
golfing career resulted in Sherri's induction into the Wisconsin Madison
Sports Hall of Fame in June of this year and she is now applying
lessons she learned playing professional golf to her pickleball career.
Neversink
resident Sherri Steinhauer, left, and partner Mike Moonan from Palm
Desert, California are the new 2017 USAPA National Mixed 55+, 4.5
champions, winning the event recently in Casa Grande, Arizona.
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