VH’s Groody wins Libertyville Invite
Lauren Groody left Pine Meadow Golf Club without any tangible prize following the first 18-hole championship of her varsity golf career.
Rather, the Vernon Hills senior departed with something more valuable than anything she could stuff in her golf bag.
“Confidence,” Groody said.
Groody’s winning and career-best-tying 85 in Thursday’s Libertyville-hosted LHS invite was especially welcome for her after she carded a 49 in the Cougars’ meet against Fremd at Vernon Hills Golf Course the previous day.
Libertyville’s Darinka Sutic and Paige Skinner of invite-champ Lake Forest finished a shot back of Groody, as each fired an 86.
“(Wednesday) was rough,” said Groody, a varsity golfer since her freshman year. “Coming back today, I was happy to shoot a decent number. But then to win was extra (special).”Led by Skinner and Caroline Dolan (87, fourth), Lake Forest shot 371 to edge Carmel Catholic (375). Libertyville (377) and Vernon Hills (378) finished third and fourth, respectively. Deerfield (407) and Lake Zurich (430) also competed.Groody shot a 44 on the front nine and a 41 on the back. She just missed a birdie putt from 25 feet on No. 18.#147;I hit my tee shots pretty well,#148; Groody said. #147;But I think the biggest thing was, with the greens this big, I just kept two-putting. I avoided three-putts.#148;Groody, who fired an 85 at sectional last fall, has broken 90 in each of Vernon Hills#146; two tournaments, as she opened the season with an 89 at Bonnie Dundee on Tuesday. As she did Thursday, she played better on the back nine (41).#147;I just got to get that front nine going,#148; Groody said.Vernon Hills#146; Lydia Flynn had an 88 to tie for fifth with Libertyville#146;s Camilla Ou and Carmel#146;s Jessica Trunzo.Ou had fired a career-best 74 at Bonnie Dundee.#147;Today was pretty bad,#148; said Ou, a much-improved junior who played varsity last year. #147;But I#146;ll bounce back. ... My putting kind of died.#148;Runner-up Carmel had four players shoot double digits #8212; Trunzo, Taylor Smith (94), Caroline Thompson (96) and Isabella Bagshaw (97).#147;Not too bad,#148; Corsairs coach Jill Franz said. #147;Could we be a little lower? Yeah. But at the same time, it#146;s the beginning of the season and we#146;re not on our home course.#148;