Julia Potter of Granger, an incoming sophomore at the University of Missouri, survived bouts of pouring rain, gusting winds and high humidity to hang on to the lead, and the title, for the 2007 IWGA Amateur Championship. She finished the 54-hole tournament at two better than par, and one shot ahead of Ellen Mueller of Evansville.

Potter began the third round at 3-under, with a two-round total of 141. She played consistent golf, going out at even par while the rest of the field struggled with the wind and the weather. However, bogeys on holes #10 and #11 dropped her to 1-under par for the tournament. At the same time, Mueller had salvaged her game and managed to get to within one shot.

On the tenth hole, Potter’s drive found the right side rough. She missed the green on her second from the side hill lie, and then chipped her third past the hole to the fringe. She missed the comeback putt and needed to tap in for bogey. Commenting she had a “little swing trouble” on the back nine, Potter again found herself in bad position off the tee in a fairway bunker on #11, resulting in her second bogey while Mueller carded regulation pars for the same two holes.

After the thirteenth, the pair battled for the title “just like match play,” stated Potter, maintaining the same one-stroke difference.

Knowing she needed birdie, Mueller stiffed her tee shot on the 120 yard, 17th hole to less than two feet. Potter landed her shot safely on the green, but about 12 feet from the hole. Making a “heartbreaker” of a putt, Potter rammed in her birdie, foiling the chance for Mueller to tie.

Potter knew that putt was a “fist pump moment” and exactly what she needed. “When I made that putt on #17 it was an uplifting moment for me,” stated Potter. Walking off the green Mueller had commented to Potter what a heartbreaker that was when the putt fell.

Mueller, who posted an even par round of 72 for the day and low round of the field for the day, got her game together on the back nine with a 35 after a shaky front nine. Mueller, who will be attending University of Oklahoma to play golf as a freshman this fall, finished in third place at the Indiana Women’s Open in June.

In the end, however, Potter's victory may bode best for Mueller. Her victory was the second consecutive by a player who was the runner-up in the previous year's championship. Potter was defeated by Katie Tewell in a playoff in 2006 after Tewell had lost the 2005 championship in a playoff to Kylene Pulley.