Council Rock South sophomore Noor Mehta captured the SOL Girls’ Golf Tournament title while Gigi Gratz finished second. Last year, the duo shared the SOL Tournament title. Photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. To view an entire gallery, click on the following link: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/p839256242
By Mary Jane Souder
The final leaderboard at last week’s Suburban One League Girls’ Golf Tournament showed that Council Rock North sophomore Noor Mehta (81) and North Penn junior Gigi Gratz (82) finished first and second, respectively.
That’s just a small part of the story for the duo, who shared the tournament title one year earlier.
Mehta went into the 18th and final hole trailing Gratz by two shots.
“Through the front nine I was ahead, and on the back nine I started to mess up a little bit,” Mehta said.
“I wasn’t doing too great, and it did come down to the last hole.
“I try not to look at the score usually in tournaments because it messes me up. But I wanted to see where I was, so I knew I was close to her. I looked, and I was two strokes behind her. I really tried to get a birdie on that hole, and I ended up getting a par. She got a triple, so I think it was a lot of luck as well.”
Gratz didn’t shy away from addressing the disappointing finish.
“Going into the last hole, I was up two, and I needed a bogey or a par to win,” the North Penn junior said. “I went out of bounds, and then I dropped, chipped, and I got a triple on that hole.
“The back nine, everything was going my way. I was parring, I birdied a hole. I got to those last three holes, and I did not finish strong. I went bogey, bogey, triple.”
Seeing a tournament title that was within her grasp slip away was not an easy pill to swallow.
“I let myself have ten minutes feeling sorry and being like, ‘I should have won,’ and then I just left it — I said I need to move on. When I was in it, that 10 minutes was the longest ever,” Gratz said. “I was a little disappointed when I woke up the next morning and everyone was asking me about it, and then I was like, ‘Yeah, I just messed it up.’ But I mean, I just gotta live with it.”
The ending, however, didn’t erase everything Gratz had done before reaching the 18th tee.
“I really wanted to win like I did last year, but I wanted to get the outright win, and I almost had it,” she said. “I played well all day. That one hole — I just can’t let that one hole define it. I played well.”
Par was good enough to edge Gratz by one stroke, and the title belonged to Mehta.
“Going into SOLs, I was trying to put less pressure on myself because I knew I was going to advance to the next level, and I just wanted to have fun with it,” she said. “It was nice. I’m proud of myself, but next year I want to win it by a little bit more. I want to improve just for myself.”
Mehta, according to her coach, works tirelessly at her game.
“Noor is a hard worker in the classroom and on the golf course,” Rock North coach Brian Maccarella said. “The time spent on the range in the offseason is now paying off for her.
“Noor’s confidence is growing day by day, and we are starting to check off some of her postseason goal boxes.”
*****
While Mehta has been playing golf for six years, Gratz is a relative newcomer.
“I’ve probably played three-and-a-half years,” Gratz said. “My aunt took me out one time, and I was so bad, but I just loved it. I loved being out there, and I stuck with it.”
The duo got to know each other at last year’s SOL Tournament.
“She was one of my opponents this year,” Mehta said. “I was playing with her, and I love her — she’s really nice.”
“It was nice playing with her since I already knew her,” Gratz said. “I really enjoy playing with her.”
Both acknowledge the pressure that goes hand in hand with playing golf.
“I try very hard not to let anything get to me,” Mehta said. “I’ve worked a lot on that, just keeping an even mindset, not letting anything get me too happy or too sad, but it does get really hard sometimes when I’m playing bad.
“(At the SOL Tournament), I think I got in my mind a lot because I did want to be first, and I think that kind of messed me up, but for the most part, I try not to.”
“It’s not a team sport, it’s an individual sport,” Gratz said. “You’re on a team, but it’s only you by yourself out there. You don’t have other people cheering you on.
“It’s a very mental sport, and you have to be able to live with that and acknowledge it and know how to tame it when you’re out there.”
For any serious golfer — and both Mehta and Gratz are serious golfers — the work is never done.
“In the summer, every few days, there’s another tournament,” Mehta said. “But almost every day is practice.”
Mehta’s goals entering her sophomore season were clear.
“I wanted to be hitting farther by the end of this year because distance has been an issue for me, but I want to get my scores down too,” she said. “I would love to get to scratch, but I think a more reasonable goal for the end of winter is trying to get to a mid-70s average.”
The season is not over for Mehta and Gratz. Both will compete in the upcoming District 1 Tournament on Oct. 5 after competing at districts a year ago.
“Last year, the first day, I shot an 80 and the second day like 85,” Mehta said. “I messed up a little bit, and the cutoff for states was (82).”
“Last year, I made the cut on the first day,” said Gratz, who shot an 83 on day one. “I was the last one in, and then on day two, I just did not do well. My ball was going everywhere. I didn’t stay in it.
“This year, I want to be more mentally aware, more mentally in the game, and if I have one bad hole, I need to have that goldfish mindset and just forget about it once I’m done.”
About the Author
