Cara Basso emerged as the top player on the Penn State
women’s team in the spring of her junior year, finishing in a tie for fourth in
the Big Ten Championship and earning an invitation to the NCAA Madison Regional
as an individual.
So when Basso, the 2012 PIAA Class AA champion as a
sophomore at Villa Maria Academy, showed up at Cedarbrook Country Club last
week to defend her Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match-Play
Championship, she was a prohibitive favorite to repeat.
And Basso, playing out of Whitford Country Club, did just
that and in dominating fashion.
Basso rolled to a 12 and 11 victory over Amy Kennedy of
Honeybrook Golf Club in the scheduled 36-hole final.
As the defending champion, Basso was exempt into the match-play
bracket. Medalist honors in qualifying went to Catherine Elliott, who starred
scholastically at the Academy of Notre Dame and collegiately at Penn. Elliott,
a stalwart for Merion Golf Club’s top entry in the WGAP Team Matches, which won
the Philadelphia Cup for, I believe, the 70th time this spring, carded
a 1-over 73.
Kennedy, an eight-time Women’s York County Amateur winner,
shared second place in qualifying with Katie Edelblut of Trenton Country Club,
each carding a 2-over 74. Kerry Rutan of Philadelphia Cricket Club finished
third with a 76.
Four players, including 11-time Women’s Philadelphia Amateur
champion Ann Laughlin of Riverton Country Club, finished tied for fifth at
5-over 77. Joining Laughlin at that figure were Cassidy Gavaghan of Sandy Run
Country Club, Samantha Perrotta of Old York Road Country Club at Chesterfield
and Karen Siegel of Commonwealth National Golf Club.
Laura Hammond, the WGAP’s executive director who has won
this event more than a few times herself, finished ninth with a 79. Hammond,
who plays out of Penn Oaks Golf Club, is, like Basso, a former PIAA champion at
Unionville and played college golf at Penn State.
In the opening round of match play, Basso rolled to an 8 and
7 victory over Joanne Bidwell of Philadelphia Cricket Club. She claimed a 5 and
4 win over Laughlin in the quarterfinals and reached the final with a 3 and 2
victory over Edelblut, who completed her collegiate career at William &
Mary this spring, in the semifinals.
Kennedy had a tough road to the final, going 20 holes to
edge Gavaghan in the quarterfinals and needing a 19th hole to get
past Perrotta in the semifinals and earn her spot opposite Basso in the final.
Diane Bartunek of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve
captured first-flight honors with a 2 and 1 victory over Avi Hockfield of The
Springhaven Club. Hockfield was a scholastic standout at Harriton who, like
Edelblut, played collegiately at William & Mary.
She was Avi Hockfield in the match-play bracket, but Avi
Snyder in the copy on the WGAP website, but either way she reached the first-flight
final.
No comments:
Post a Comment