Springside Chestnut Hill's Kniczewski goes out a winner in Inter-Ac Championship at French Creek

    WEST NANTMEAL – Springside Chestnut Hill Academy senior Kara Kniczewski knew it would be her last shot at winning an Inter-Ac League individual title.

   And with all apologies to the master, Donald Ross, Kniczewski was glad when she found out that, after a four-year run at Gulph Mills Golf Club, the Inter-Ac Championship was headed west to the decidedly more modern Gil Hanse design – early Gil Hanse – at French Creek Golf Club.

   French Creek sits on a sprawling piece of land in the northwest corner of Chester County and it’s certainly a completely different ballgame than the Ross classic at Gulph Mills.

   “When I found out that it was changing from Gulph Mills, I thought that would be a good thing for me,” Kniczewski said after carding a 3-over-par 38 on the 2,462-yard, par-35 front nine at French Creek to finish two shots ahead of Episcopal Academy sophomore Lauren Jones. “I don’t know, my game just didn’t seem to agree with Gulph Mills. It’s certainly a great golf course.”

   Kniczewski, who is thrilled to be heading to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. this summer, admitted that winning an Inter-Ac title was always a goal, even if it took some prodding from her swing coach, Mike Davis, who works out of the Spring Mill Country Club pro shop, to make sure it was something she thought she could attain.

   “Ever since freshman year, my swing coach would be like, ‘Come on, you can win the Inter-Ac,’” Kniczewski said. “But there was always (former Agnes Irwin standout) Kaitlyn Lees and (former Notre Dame and Agnes Irwin standout) Meghan Fahey and a lot of other good players, so that made it tough. Lees and Fahey were gone, so maybe I had a little better chance.”

   Kniczewski knew her playing partner Jones, who helped Episcopal made a second straight unbeaten run through the Inter-Ac regular season this spring, was going to be just as tough a competitor as Lees and Fahey and the rest had been.

   And when Jones chipped in for birdie from a tough lie in deep grass just off the green at the 304-yard, par-4 seventh hole, she had drawn within a shot of Kniczewski, who was 1-over par. And Kniczewski still had a testy three-footer left for par.

   “That got my heart racing a little,” Kniczewski said. “I had to do a little scrambling myself on that hole, but I was able to settle down and make that putt.”

   Kniczewski increased her lead to two shots when she made bogey at the testy, downhill par-3 eighth hole. Jones’ tee shot came up short in deep rough and she couldn’t get her chip shot out of the swale on the right-front portion of the green.

   It was a tough pin, resting just at the top of the swale and after Jones three-putted for double bogey, Kniczewski missed a five-foot par putt of her own.

   “I had the line, I just pulled it a little,” Kniczewski said. “The putter’s actually been pretty good lately.”

   Kniczewski’s drive at the 315-yard, par-4 ninth hole found the bank of a bunker to the right of the fairway. The ball was imbedded, though, and she was able to take a club length from fescue into the first cut of rough. Then she hit the shot that clinched the win.

   “I had 78 yards and I took a 54-degree wedge and hit a little fade in there,” Kniczewski said.

   The ball settled eight feet from the pin on a tiny green that almost looks banked. She lagged her birdie putt and tapped in for par and the win. Kniczewski became just the second Springside Chestnut Hill player to win the Inter-Ac title, joining Amanda Lownes, who wore the crown a decade ago.

   “I was playing pretty solid this spring,” said Kniczewski. “I had my college choice out of the way, so that helped me relax and I’m a senior, so I knew what to expect at Inter-Ac Championships. This is probably the end of competitive golf for me. Maybe I’ll play club golf at the Naval Academy.”

   The rescheduled Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship will be held Monday at Brookside Country Club, but Kniczewski got the title she wanted the most.

   Jones, though, is just getting started. Her mother Lorraine, fresh off helping Merion Golf Club win the Philadelphia Cup, the top level of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Inter-Club Team Matches, for the 71^st time, said Lauren Jones will be playing “a lot of golf” this summer.

   The runnerup to Lees two years ago and a third-place finisher behind Lees and Fahey as a freshman last spring, Jones is long and her talent is obvious. She was just off the green in two at the par-5 fourth hole and chipped it close for a birdie.

   She struggled a couple of times around the unfamiliar green complexes at French Creek. But her 5-over 40 was still four shots better than the next best score. Kniczewski’s teammate, Emma Schotsch, a sophomore, finished third with a 44.

   Jones is the best player on Kim Farrell’s EA team that ran its Inter-Ac win streak to 16 matches this spring. Once it was Notre Dame that was unbeatable in the Inter-Ac, the Irish rattling off nine straight league titles before EA finally dethroned them a year ago.

   Lauren Jones’ older sister Amanda, a junior, and Kathleen Mark, another sophomore at EA, shared fourth place with Notre Dame sophomore Stef Bonnini, each carding a 10-over 45. Mark played in the lead group along with Kniczewski and Lauren Jones.

   Baldwin’s Megan Adelman, an eighth-grader, finished seventh with a 47 and Episcopal Academy senior Gracie Reilly was eighth with a 49. EA freshman Grace McLaughlin took ninth with a 52 and Agnes Irwin senior Annie Curran rounded out the top 10 with a 53.

   Notre Dame sophomore Heather Styslinger finished 11^th with a 55, EA seniors Minji Cho and Cam Stapleton shared 12^th place, each posting a 56, Notre Dame senior Katie Lennon was 14^th with a 60 and Agnes Irwin senior Maura Boyle was 15^th with a 61.

   Episcopal Academy had seven of the 15 qualifiers for the Inter-Ac Championship and four of them will be back next spring. It looks like another dynasty is forming, this time out on Route 252 in Newtown Square.