Prospect prevails behind 1-2 punch of Garmoe, Walsh
On the final hole of her school-record 44th straight win in a Mid-Suburban League dual meet, Prospect senior Christine Garmoe’s drive was just a few feet away from the drive of teammate Allison Walsh.
Their golf balls were behind a tree on the left side of the fairway, some 15 yards from the hole.
Perhaps it was fitting they were so close together — because for the entire round, the Knights’ dynamic duo battled for medalist honors in Prospect’s 154-166 triumph over Barrington on the Fillies’ home course of Bonnie Dundee Golf Club in Carpentersville.
The win gave the Knights an 11-0 record in Mid-Suburban League dual-meet competition heading into Tuesday’s conference meet, also to be hosted by the Fillies at Bonnie Dundee.
The Bradley-bound Walsh led the pack with a 36 on the par 34 front nine, followed Garmoe’s 37 and Barrington sophomore Heather Ciskowski’s 38.
Senior Sarah Scaccia’s round of 39 and sophomore Noreen Caporusso’s 42 completed the Knights’ scorecard.
Barrington, which finished 10-1 and won its fourth straight MSL West crown, received its other three scores from Julia Calbi (40), Kelly Umphred (43) and Lindsey Martindale (45).
Garmoe, who birdied holes 4 and 5 and bogeyed the last, finished her four-year high school conference dual career in remarkable fashion — undefeated.
“I never really thought about, really unbelievable,’ she said. “I’m just so proud of the whole team.”
As they stood together behind the tree on No. 9, longtime friends Walsh and Garmoe had a brief conversation.
“It was pretty funny we both landed our drives there,” said Walsh, who recorded birdies on holes 3, 5 and 8. “We talked about what we had to do to get to the pin and planned a ‘sneak-attack par.’ We said whoever got the better score would win a candy bar.”
Walsh ended up with an up-and-down from a sand trap to finish with a 36 and win the candy bar.
For the Fillies, it was time for cupcakes afterward to celebrate coach Jodi Schoeck’s birthday. The Fillies sang “Happy Birthday” to their Hall of Fame coach near the clubhouse.
“Heather (Ciskowski) and Julia (Calbi, freshman) have been our solid No. 1 and 2 players all season,” Schoeck said. “Heather had a really solid round today.
“This was a great way to get pumped up for Tuesday. It was nice for our girls to play against great competition today, all pushing each other and getting the best out of their games.”
Ciskowski’s round included birdies on holes 3 and 5.
“We are going to be open-minded Tuesday,” Ciskowski said “We’ll take this as our practice round. Obviously, we know the course Tuesday.”
Scaccia handled the course quite well Thursday, finishing with a birdie on the final hole. The senior hit a 7-iron from 150 yards out to within 2 feet of her birdie putt.
“The seniors came up big and Noreen (Caporusso, sophomore) played well,” said Knights coach Jim Hamann. “We are very excited about the position we have put ourselves in to finish the job on Tuesday. Barrington has had a great season so we know we will have to be ready to go again.”
It will be the final conference meet for the Knights’ seniors, who are trying to make it four straight titles for Prospect.
“I think the whole program has been improving more and more to get to this point. “ Walsh said. “Everyone worked super hard all summer and it has paid off, especially with our short game.”
“It’s great that we were able to play here four days before the conference meet and use it as a practice round,” Garmoe said. “We knew we had to play well because Barrington is tough and was playing on its home course.”