Powanda holds off hard-charging McConnell to win girls golf title
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Ella McRoberts tees off during WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship action Thursday at Oakmont Country Club. The Peters Township senior finished in fourth place.
OAKMONT – It didn’t hit her at first but then Caroline McConnell began to think about it.
“On the first tee, it was exciting,” said McConnell of playing on the famous Oakmont Country Club course. “Then it settled into a regular round of golf. Then walking up 18, I got a really cool emotional feeling. So many great players have walked up the same fairway I did and hit great shots like I did.”
Well, Arnie, Tiger and Phil would have been impressed with McConnell’s shot from 160 yards out that almost hit the hole. She missed a 12-footer for eagle on the par-5 but had a tap-in birdie that cemented her round of 7-over-par 82 in the WPIAL Class AAA Championships at beautiful but unforgiving Oakmont on a brisk Thursday afternoon.
That score was good enough for second place and earned the junior from South Fayette High School a spot in the PIAA Championships at Heritage Hills Resort in York Oct. 20.
McConnell will be joined by Lindsey Powanda, a junior from Mt. Lebanon; Nina Bush, a junior from Fox Chapel; Ella McRoberts, a senior from Peters Township; and Paige Scott, a junior from Butler, who won a four-woman playoff for the fifth and final spot.
“I didn’t have a score in mind,” said McConnell. “I knew the course was going to be tough. I think 82 is a pretty good score.”
Through a connection, McConnell got to play a practice round at Oakmont and that was beneficial.
“It was helpful to get experience on the greens and the rough and the fairways,” said McConnell.
At one point in the middle of the back 9, three Peters Township girls were within qualifying distance. But a 10 on par-4, No. 17 sent Allison Poon tumbling from the No. 5 spot; and a quadruple-bogey 9 on the last hole sent Delaney Kern falling from the No. 4 spot. Kern ended up in the playoff for fifth place, which was won by Scott.
Powanda shot a 5-over 80 to win her first title. She failed to qualify as a sophomore and finished second as a freshman.
“It was truly a gift to play a round here,” she said. “This is one of the hardest courses in the country. Every blade of grass is perfect. The sand was raked perfectly.”
This will be Powanda’s first trip to the state tournament. She didn’t qualify at the regional event at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville. This year, the PIAA did away with the East and West regionals.
The course was laid out over 5,639 yards. Nos.1, 10, 15 and 18 were changed to par 5s from the red tees.
McConnell’s final hole was special. Her approach shot was magnificent, landing right next to the cup and rolling about 12 feet past. Her eagle putt stopped just inches away from the left side of the cup, leaving her a tap-in for birdie.
McConnell played with junior Adena Regula of Uniontown in the first group of the day. Regulo fell apart on the back 9, taking a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 12th, a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 15 and shot a 9 on the par-4 17th. She finished tied for 13th with a 95, 52 on the back and 43 on the front.
“My ball-striking was pretty good,” McConnell said. “I was only in a couple bunkers and I was able to get out of them and then hit a good shot. I just had one double, one bad hole, and I played pretty well all the way around.”
McRoberts smoked the first few holes on the back 9 after shooting 48 on the front. She was one-under after four holes to make a move.
“It was a tough course,” McRoberts said of her hot start to the second 9. “I was draining more putts, my misses were less severe and I was hitting more fairways.”
She also zeroed in on the flag better, giving her shorter putts.
McRoberts took third in this event last year before winning the West Regional and finishing eighth in the state event.
Canon-McMillan’s Jamie Rush finished 17th after shooting 96. Rush, however, was the only player in the field to birdie two of the par-3 holes.