Taking on the man

 
By Brandon Tucker
September 19, 2011 9:50 PM ET

Make no mistake, the Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships are by no means exclusively men's event, it just so happens that it's predominantly males who qualified for La Quinta.  

However, 15 ladies are among the 1,000-plus competitors for the Am Tour finals and Senior finals. 

Six ladies are competing in this week's Senior National Championship. There is no separate division, so they'll compete against the men (women are allowed to play one box up in their respective flights), and wouldn't it be sweet if one of them happened to go home with some hardware. 

Among the contenders at PGA West after Round 2 is Janice Yoshimoto from Freemont, California. Making her first nationals appearance in the Snead Flight, the 57-year-old plays the game with an animated spring in her step and a smile on her face, even though she was underwhelmed with her 99 shot on the Nicklaus Course at PGA West today in Round 2. But she finds herself in 9th place heading into moving day. 

"I love trying to beat the guys," she said with a laugh, adding most of the women in her area tend to stick more to competitions at their home clubs. "I play with a few other clubs but mostly with the Golf Channel Am Tour because it's more competitive." 

Yoshimoto is clearly not afraid of taking on the boys. In fact, she won the Delta Classic at Roddy Ranch on her local tour in August. 

She heads into the third round eight shots behind leader Ed Heissler from Gresham, Oregon.