Radnor High senior Brynn Walker has always been a team
player.
She burst on the scholastic scene as a key member of the
Raiders’ 2012 team that won the PIAA team championship. A year later she
represented Pennsylvania in the USGA State Team Championship, her first USGA
event. Last spring she teamed up with Council Rock North’s Madelein Herr in a
stirring run to the semifinals of the inaugural USGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
Championship.
So when Team Pennsylvania needed a strong finish from the
reigning Daily Times Player of the
Year to move up the final leaderboard at this year’s USGA State Team
Championship Saturday at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the 17-year-old Walker delivered in a
big way.
Walker got a little revenge on the 477-yard, par-5 finishing
hole, which she had double-bogeyed in Thursday’s first round, with an eagle
that gave her a 1-under 71, one of only two subpar rounds on the final day.
More importantly, it gave Team Pennsylvania a final-round 145 that pulled it
two shots clear of Massachusetts at 12-over 444 for a third-place finish.
That the two top scorers for Pennsylvania on the final day
are both Delco players is pretty neat, too. Aurora Kan, like Walker a PIAA
champion and a three-time Daily Times
Player of the Year during a brilliant scholastic career at Chichester, saved
her best for last, a 2-over 74.
Pennsylvania was never really in the hunt for the team title
as George overtook Florida to win the title for the fourth time in the 11-year
history of the biennial event.
Georgia’s youngest player, 17-year-old Lauren Lightfritz,
led the way with a 3-over 75 as the Peachtree State had a final-round 151 for a
4-over 436 total.
Florida had set a tournament record with its 36-hole total,
but the Sunshine State fell back with a final-round 156 that left it at 7-over
439 in second place. Florida counted two 78s Saturday, one of them from Meghan
Stasi, the South Jersey native who is an eight-time Women’s Golf Association of
Philadelphia Amateur champion and a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion.
Then there was Pennsylvania with a final-round 145 that was
easily the best round of the day when the 6,203-yard Dalhouse Golf Club layout
played its toughest.
Walker had four birdies and five bogeys on her card before
arriving at the final hole and making that eagle that gave her a 1-under 71.
The North Carolina commit opened with a 1-under 71 Thursday, fell back a little
with a 4-over 76 in the middle round and ended up strong for a 2-over 218 total
that left her in a four-way tie for second in the individual standings.
Shannon Johnson, a 32-year-old recreational hockey player
from Foxborough, Mass., was rock solid throughout the tournament with rounds of
71, 70 and 71 for a record 4-under 212 total that gave her the individual
title.
The 21-year-old Kan, coming off an outstanding career at
Purdue, was playing in her ninth USGA event and played in four NCAA Tournaments
with the Boilermakers, three with the team and once qualifying as an
individual. Her experience showed.
Kan opened her final round with birdies at one and two. She
would register five bogeys the rest of the way against one more birdie, but her
2-over 74 was her best round of the tournament.
She finished in a tie for 33rd overall at 12-over 228.
Rounding out the three-woman team was Ellen Ceresko, a
scholastic rival of Kan’s at the state level and then a collegiate rival of
Kan’s during a solid four-year career at Penn State. And they have had some
epic battles at the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur, a title Ceresko won in 2012
and 2013 and Kan captured in 2010.
Ceresko’s second-round 76 was a counter when Kan struggled a
little with a 78.
Amy Kennedy, the longtime York County standout who was the
captain of this team and was a teammate of Walker’s on Pennsylvania’s 2013
squad, did a tremendous job with this trio. It’s hard to imagine that a
Pennsylvania team ever finished this high, but I’ll be working on trying to
find that out.
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