Francesca Fuller Presented 'Leading The Way' Award Honors at 2026 RDGA Women's Open at Monroe Golf Club; Division Champions Crowned
By DAVE EATON
For the past eight years, the Rochester District Golf Association has been pleased to present a special award to a member of the local golf community at the annual RDGA Women’s Open. Called the RDGA Leading The Way Award, this special honor recognizes someone who has worked tirelessly to grow the game of golf for women and men.
At this year’s RDGA Women’s Open – held at Monroe Golf Club on Monday, August 24 – the RDGA was honored to present the 2026 RDGA Leading The Way Award to Francesca Fuller, who has served the WRDGA as President for the past seven years.
“Probably the part of women’s golf that means the most to me, is getting more women to play in the first place,” says Fuller. “For about 15 years, I have spent countless hours convincing women my age to take up golf, join a scramble, come to a Nine & Dine, or just embrace the ‘golf girl’ life. I’ve taken on new golfers and lead groups at clubs for girls to get out and learn the game.”
Fuller came to be President of the Women’s Rochester District Golf Association in a somewhat roundabout way.
“Despite growing up around golf, I didn’t really start playing until my mid-20s. Within about two years, I was asked to join the WRDGA,” Fuller recalled. “During my second year, I was asked to attend a roundtable of women to discuss women’s golf and the future of the organization. From there, I was asked to become Vice President and eventually take over as President.”
Fuller started as Vice President in 2017 and became President in 2019. It was originally supposed to be a two-year term.
“COVID changed things, we changed our bylaws, and I agreed to extend my term — and somehow I have agreed to extend it a few more times since then!”
When Fuller first became WRDGA President, she had a lot of ideas about things she wanted to try – particularly ways that the WRDGA could increase participation and give women more reasons to play in events.
“I implemented a rounds-played system to play in our prize event, The Pro Ladies, as well as a season-long points system that culminates in our Player of the Year and spot to play in a new tournament I brought the organization – The WRDGA Cup,” she says. “It was pretty controversial at the time, but I believed creating season-long goals and incentives would encourage women to participate more often.”
The numbers showed that her efforts were working. For example, the WRDGA saw a 77% increase in participation in the annual Team Scramble and a 112% increase in the WRDGA Championship, compared with participation before Fuller became President. I was really proud to see a decision that had initially received some pushback ultimately have such a positive impact.
“I’ve never been afraid to make a change just because something has ‘always been done that way,'” she adds.
According to Fuller, one of her more controversial decisions came when she was running an invitational that had traditionally been played from the back women’s tees for decades. Fuller moved the tees to a forward/combo tee set that she felt was much more appropriate for that type of event.
“There was a LOT of backlash and chatter about that decision! I stayed with it because I wanted to at least give the idea a chance and see how the players actually felt after experiencing it.”
Going forward, Fuller hopes to continue focusing on the bigger picture of golf for both women and men, making sure women continue to have a meaningful place in the competitive local golf world – an outlook formed by the strong belief that increasing the number of women who play golf is good for everyone.
“The more women we can get comfortable picking up a club, joining a league, entering an event or simply showing up for their first girls’ golf night, the stronger the game becomes,” she notes. “And now, having a young daughter of my own beginning to experience golf, continuing to grow those opportunities means even more to me.”
2026 Division Winners Crowned at Monroe
This year’s RDGA Women’s Open at Monroe Golf Club featured competition in four divisions, based on players competing on two different tee sets, as well as gross score or net score results.
In the White Tee Division, the Gross Score champion was RDGA Hall of Famer Kitty Colliflower of Oak Hill, who posted a score of 82 to win by one shot over runners-up Deb Wood and Audrey Clarke.
In the White Tee, Net Score competition, Erin Davenport of Lady Links won with a net score of 69.
In the White-Maroon Combo Tee Division, the Gross Score winner was Chaewon Kim of Locust Hill. Chaewon finished with a score of 85, to earn the title by two shots over Kim Poston.
And, in the White-Maroon Tee, Net Score Division, Anne Levitt of the Rochester Women’s Golf Network took top honors with a net score of 65.
Past RDGA Leading The Way Award Honorees
- 2018 – Dianne Wilde
- 2019 – Shirley Durham
- 2020 – No Award (Covid)
- 2021 – Joan LeRoy & Julie Odenbach
- 2022 – Jane Gorsline
- 2023 – Debby Murphy
- 2024 – Sharon White
- 2025 – Diane Parke-Potter
- 2026 – Francesca Fuller
