Central Bucks West senior Abby Lynn captured the 2022 Suburban One League Golf championship Thursday. Photos provided by Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for GOLF can be viewed by clicking HERE.
By Ben Reese
WARMINSTER — Abby Lynn won the 2021 Suburban One League’s girls golf championship by one stroke.
Abby Lynn won the 2022 Suburban One League girls golf championship by one stroke.
No, that isn’t a mistake or a misprint. The Central Bucks West senior became a repeat winner on Thursday at Five Ponds Golf Club. She is the first repeat winner in recent memory.
Lynn shot a 1-under 70 to take the title. She beat Rhianna Gooneratne of Plymouth Whitemarsh by one shot.
So, Abby, are you impressed with your achievement?
“I am,” she said. “This is my first round under par. All season I’ve felt like I had it coming, so I’m pleased I could do it now.”
Did you figure that since you won the championship last year you could do it again?
“No, I did not,” Lynn said. “I just came in and said if I can just get over 10 greens in regulation and two-putt every hole (I’ll advance).
“I tried not to look at the scoreboard. Don’t think about the other girls scores and just go one shot at a time.”
Obviously, that was the proper attitude coming into the tournament.
Teeing off in the first group, Lynn birdied No. 3 but gave that stroke right back with a bogey on the fourth hole. She bogeyed the par-3 seventh hole to finish the front nine 1-over par.
Lynn rebounded on the back nine. She birdied No. 12 and No. 16 and then finished with a pair of pars for her 1-under 70.
Playing in the same group, Gooneratne kept up with Lynn. The two traded the lead back and forth for the entire 18 holes.
It didn’t appear that that would happen after the first four holes. Gooneratne bogeyed three of the four and fell behind. However, she quickly reversed that trend and birdied the fifth, seventh and ninth holes to end the front nine even par.
She repeated that formula on the back nine. Gooneratne birdied 12 and 16 but bogeyed 15 and 17.
“I’m just happy with how I played,” she said. “I knew on 17 when I missed a 2-footer to make a bogey while she (Lynn) made par, so I kind of knew it was over at that point.
“I started bogey, bogey on the front and then made another bogey, so I was pretty happy to come back with some birdies and play pretty well.”
Also in that first group was CB East’s Lundquist, who turned in the gutsiest performance of the day.
“I have mono,” Lundquist said. “Halfway through the round, I felt a sharp pain on my left side and I think it was because my spleen was enlarged.
“It was a little rough, but I made it. I was super-tired and had bad headaches. I didn’t play great.”
Lynn’s motive for continuing was simple.
“So I can go to states,” she stated emphatically.
Lundquist played pretty well, no matter what problems she had. She had four birdies and five bogeys to finish with a 1-over 72.
While Lundquist had the intestinal fortitude to finish, both Lynn and Gooneratne attributed their strong rounds to something else.
The two players couldn’t be more different in physical attributes. But both have one thing going for them. They are both long off the tee.
“I’ve just got to use my legs,” said Lynn. “I can’t use my arms.”
Gooneratne agrees with that idea.
“I feel like I use my legs a lot,” she said. “I try to connect everything together. I try to hit it well; I try to hit it straight (with an emphasis on try).”
In all, 15 SOL girls will advance to the District One tournament on Oct. 10 and 11 at Turtle Creek.
However, one girl who did shoot a score which would have qualified her for advancement won’t be going.
Council Rock South’s Audrey Reese shot an 87, well within the requirements. However, she had transferred to an out-of-state school in the spring and then transferred back to CR South in the late summer.
According to PIAA rules, that made her a transfer student. Transfer students may play in league sanctioned events but cannot participate in postseason activities, which includes, in this case, the District One tournament and the PIAA tournament.
District One AAA Qualifiers
Abby Lynn CB West 70
Rhianna Gooneratne PW 71
Elle Lundquist CB East 72
Alli Engart Souderton 78
Hayley Ekert North Penn 78
Naaz Mehta Neshaminy 81
Sophia Branca CB South 82
Emma Reilly CB South 83
Talia Hoffner Upper Dublin 83
Taryn Shine Pennridge 87
Camryn Lampitoc North Penn 88
Nina Harris CB East 90
Madison Molesky CB East 93
Sabrina Swope Neshaminy 96
Clare Farrington CB East 96
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