Alyssa Godfrey is taking some time away from her day job delivering babies in hopes of delivering birdies this week. Godfrey is one of 132 competitors in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship field, which begins with the first stroke-play round at Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Dunes course in Pebble Beach, Calif., on Saturday. The U.S. Women’s Mid-Am is open to players who are at least 25 years old by the opening day of the championship and have a USGA Handicap Index that does not exceed 9.4. The field is determined by 29 qualifying sites around country.
A competitive junior player in her home state of New York, Godfrey attended Wake Forest University but did not play golf for the Division I program. Post college, she got back into playing at her home club of Meadow Brook on Long Island, and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am on her first try earlier this year. Godfrey is one of three players from her club who qualified for the Women’s Mid-Am.
“In the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed starting to play some more local tournaments with women,” Godfrey said earlier this week. “I think it’s really such a wonderful community of adult women to play with. I wish I’d had the demeanor and the patience now at 30, back when I was in high school. I don’t have a ton of formal golf experience, but I’ve played my whole life.”
As an OB/GYN PA, Godfrey is one of several players with notable professions in the field. Also competing: NBC Sports/Golf Channel broadcaster Emilia Doran, golf writer Gabby Herzig and LPGA hopeful Brooke Seay, who recently graduated from Stanford with a master’s degree in epidemiology and clinical research.
How does Godfrey balance a demanding career with playing high-level golf? She says she makes an effort to play two to three times a week, and credits her supportive team of fellow clinicians at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
“Over the summer, I kind of build my schedule around a couple of golf tournaments that I have team coverage for, which is really amazing,” she said. “I work, obviously, in women’s health and I work with a lot of women. And it’s just a good reminder that, outside of your career, you can have other interests that you pursue, and it’s really nice to have a team behind me at work who kind of makes that happen for me.”
And how many of her colleagues know what a high-level player she is?
“I have three attendings who texted me this morning,” she said. “They are all emotionally invested and cheering me on, which is really fun.”
Godfrey and her fellow competitors will play 36 holes of stroke play this weekend, with the top 64 players moving on to match play. You can find the entire U.S. Women’s Mid-Am schedule of play below. For more information on the championship and to follow live scoring, click here.
2025 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am Championship schedule
Saturday, Oct. 4: (Stroke Play, Round 1, 18 holes)
Sunday, Oct. 5: (Stroke Play, Round 2, 18 holes)
Monday, Oct. 6: (Round of 64, match play)
Tuesday, Oct. 7: (Round of 32/Round of 16, match play)
Wednesday, Oct. 8: (Quarterfinals/Semifinals, match play)
Thursday, Oct. 9: (Championship Match, 18 holes)
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