SOL Girls' Golf Championship (10-4-16)

CB East’s Sophia Mancuso captured the title of the Suburban One League golf championship on Tuesday at Five Ponds. Photo courtesy of Kathy Leister Photography. Check back for a gallery of the day’s event that will be available for purchase.

By Ben Reese

WARMINSTER -- The 2016 golf season in the Suburban One League didn’t have one dominant female golfer like it had in the past.

Jackie Rogowicz has graduated; Madelein Herr and her sister Erika have graduated. All had won the SOL girls title.

However, this is a new era, a new stage for some golfers to carry the honors as the best in the league. And those golfers stepped up Tuesday at Five Ponds Golf Course.

Leading the way was Central Bucks East junior Sophia Mancuso. Mancuso shot a 5-over 77 to grab the medalist honors.

She was followed by Min Kim of North Penn, who turned in an 81. Wissahickon's Christea Park took third with an 85 and Central Bucks South freshman Sarah Scarpill shot an 87, the only other golfer to finish under 90.

In all, 14 girls advanced to the District One Championship, which will be played Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 10 and 11, at Turtle Creek and Gilbertsville.

For Mancuso, the win was vindication of sorts. At the 2015 SOL championship, she finished with a 100, which did qualify her for districts but didn't make her happy.

"It's a huge difference," Mancuso said of 2015 and 2016. "Last year, I shot 100 which is kind of disappointing because I knew I could play better.

"This year I shot a 77 so I'm happier with that, definitely."

A big part of Mancuso's improvement has to do with her confidence in herself and her game. It seems to have made a great difference.

"I think I play more experienced," she said. "Last year, I wasn't as certain.

"This year, I'm just able to see a shot and hit it rather than hope for it to get on the green. I try to get closer to the hole rather than just get it on the green."

Mancuso attributed much of her success to her play around the greens.

"The up-and-down saves were really important just in getting the pars," she said, "because, no matter what, pars are important just to keep your score lower. When I was able to one-putt, it was definitely important to me."

Kim had a similar experience around the greens.

"On some shots, I would think that I couldn't make this so I would go with the shorter club, chipping on the green and one putt," she said. "Today, I chipped pretty good."

According to Kim's coach at North Penn, Dave DiValentino, putting isn't her strong suit. Kim might disagree.

"My putting was not bad," she said. "I'm actually happy with my putting today. I worked a lot and I think I did pretty OK with putting today."

To tour the course in 81, putting has to be good.

Park, who qualified for districts last year, is happy to be returning. She just hopes for a better result.

"I'm excited because I worked a lot over the summer to improve my game," Park said. "I'm ready to do a lot better."

Park had no trouble with her putting. She drained a long putt during the round to keep her game going.

"My coach was watching at that time so I think it changed my mindset a little," she said. "(I thought) I have to put this in."

Scarpill has no expectations about district play. As a freshman, she has never been to the second step in the championship chase.

She is confident that she will do well, but she is also basking in the round, which vaulted her to districts.

"It feels good," she said of her 87 and the upcoming trip to districts. "I'm really happy with my score."

Happy and confident.

"I expected to be in the high 80s, low 90s," she said. "My drives were not always consistent but my short game was really good today."

Last year, Pennsbury’s McKenzie Mix finished fourth in the SOL Championship, shooting a 95 at LuLu Country Club. This year, she stumbled right out of the gate, chunking her drive off the first tee, but she kept playing and got her game back on an even keel, shooting a 92 and finishing in eighth place.

"At that point, (after the opening drive), I was just spiraling, but that's when I really had to crawl back to make a good recovery shot," Mix said. "The hole didn't turn out the greatest (she shot a triple-bogey seven on the hole), and I think that might have set my round off."

She added two more triples and several bogeys to the round, but she didn't become discouraged.

"I knew I was going to advance if I could keep it at least semi-low and keep my cool and not massively blow up on all of the holes,” Mix explained. "I'm very thankful and grateful that my score was able to calm down a bit and I was able to qualify."

Joining Mancuso, Kim, Park, Scarpill and Mix at districts will be Allison McGowan of Council Rock South (90), North Penn's Ally McFarland and Grace Enright of CB West (91), Josie Genaurdi of North Penn (93), Wissahickon's Catherine Pfingst, Jordan Hughes of Pennsbury and Victoria Monterossa of Abington (all 94) and Madilyn Siuta of Quakertown and April Xu of Council Rock South (95).

The cutoff was at 98 with 19 spots available for advancement to districts.

The District One Championship will be played Monday, Oct. 10, at Gilbertsville Golf Course for the girls and Turtle Creek Golf Course for the boys. On Tuesday, Oct. 11, after a cut is made, both boys and girls will play the final round at Turtle Creek.