Pennsbury’s Jade Gu captured the title at the SOL Girls’ Golf Championship Wednesday at Five Ponds Golf Club. Photos provided courtesy of Diana Leferovich. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Ben Reese
WARMINSTER -- For Pennsbury senior Jade Gu, the Suburban One League girls’ golf championship at Five Ponds Golf Club was a bit of a mixed bag.
On the one hand, she won the championship for the second straight year and advanced to the District One tournament next Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 5 and 6.
On the other, she wasn't really pleased with her round of even-par 71. The closest golfers to her were 79s by Central Bucks South's Emma Reilly and CB West's Abigail Lynn.
"That's nice," Gu said when told that there would be no Regional Tournament after the upcoming districts. "I'm excited for the rest of the season.
However, that excitement was noticeably absent when she began discussing her round.
"I think I putted pretty well," she said. "I made a few long ones for birdie and I had some tap-in birdies. I did miss a couple but my putting was pretty good."
She acknowledged that she did give away some shots on the front nine.
"And the back," she added. "I kind of hit bad tee shots and didn't recover well. I don't think it's my swing or anything.
"I think I just have to work on my mental routine and just visualize my shots more because I don't think either of those shots that got me in trouble were necessary. I definitely have to work on my head a little bit."
"Those shots" were a pair of whiffs, one on the eighth hole and one on sixteen. Each one cost her a stroke and prevented her from gaining any ground on par.
"I just had bad tee shots and then didn't recover well," Gu said. "It's pretty rough to shoot six birdies and shoot even."
Gu was 3-under partway though the front nine. But she allowed several birdies to get away. She missed a four-foot putt for a birdie on No. 4 and another on No. 7. Then came the problem on No. 8.
She hit her drive very close to an out-of-bounds fence on the left side of the fairway. There was very little room to swing her club.
She tried to hit her ball over a creek right in front of her only to swing and miss the ball entirely. She then chipped out, hit over the creek onto the green and three-putted for a seven.
That hole alone cost her. She finished the front nine at even-par 35 and then shot 36 on the back nine for her 71.
Ea, playing in the foursome behind Gu, also had her problems. But they came on only one hole.
"Everything was good until I got to the 17th hole (a par-3)," she said. "I put three in the water and I three-putted for a 10.
"I was doing good on the front nine. I was 6-over on the front nine and, on the back nine, I was 1-under for six holes."
Then came the 17th. As it was, if she had even double-bogied the 17th, she would have shot 37 on the back and finished with a 78.
Ea had watched her Pennridge male teammates play on Tuesday at Five Ponds. And it gave her some pause coming into the round on Wednesday.
"It's a bit relieving (today) after watching yesterday," she said. "It was a bit stressful.
"The greens were really fast (on Tuesday) and the fairways were really wet and the bunkers were really hard to hit out of."
And, on a very windy day, it really didn't bother her, except on No. 17.
"Besides the wind taking my ball on No. 17, I feel it didn't impact my game as much," she said.
In all, 13 girls qualified to advance to the District One tournament. The SOL was allotted 19 available spots for districts. The girls had to shoot under 100 to advance.
On Monday, Oct. 5, for districts, the boys will play Turtle Creek and the girls will play Raven's Claw. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, after a cut, both will play Turtle Creek.
SOL Girls District Qualifiers
Jade Gu Pennsbury 71
Emma Reilly CB South 79
Abigail Lynn CBW 79
Ashley Ea Pennridge 83
Arielle Schultz Pennsbury 85
Nina Harris CB East 89
Isabella May Wissahickon 90
Hayley Eckert North Penn 92
Audrey Reese CR South 93
Taryn Shine Pennridge 93
Leah Armour CB East 94
Talia Hoffner Upper Dublin 94
Mollie Young Springfield 98
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