Wind can't stop Driscoll's DiGrazia

BYRON -- If the wind at the Class A girls golf regional at PrairieView Golf Course bothered Driscoll's Gigi DiGrazia, she didn't let it show.

The gusty conditions rewarded good shots and club selection and no one was rewarded more than DiGrazia.

The junior medalist came in with a 77 to qualify for state as an individual.

"With the wind conditions today, a 77 is a great score," said Driscoll coach Mark Heading. "This is what her goal was: to win regionals, win sectionals and now she has here sights set on the state tournament. Hopefully, this will be her year."

"I have mixed feelings. I thought I played a lot better than that score," DiGrazia said. "But because of the wind and stuff, it really kept my score high. Overall, I'm pretty happy. I played well under those conditions."

This is DiGrazia's third trip to state as an individual, only because her regular-season teammates are Driscoll's boys golfers.

"She plays on the boys team and plays anywhere from one, two or three," Heading said. "All season with the boys, she plays from the tips. It helps her a lot. It helps her coming into this series because the intensity of the game is a lot higher at the boys level."

The first competition with the girls this season came last week at the regionals.

"It's fun to come to these girls tournaments," she said. "It's a new environment. I work hard with the guys on the longer tees then I take about a week and try to score from the shorter tees. It's fun because all of a sudden my scores are lower. To me, it's more like a confidence booster."

Her strength on the boys side is also appreciated by her coach.

"It's fun (to coach her), especially against the boys," Heading said. "Every time she steps up on the tees, the first thing is they have a girl on the team. Then she rips it and then all the pressure is on the boys. She medals four or five times out of 10 or 12 matches (against boys), that's pretty solid. It's easy to coach someone like that."

For the most part Tuesday was a good step toward Makanda.

"The course is in great condition," said DiGrazia, who is already attracting some big college interest, including Illinois, Notre Dame and Michigan. "Playing in a 40 mph winds didn't help. It was fun out there today. It was a good round and pretty happy with my game right now going into state. I'm excited. Today was a good preparation for state."