It's a win-win for DiGrazia

GiGi Digrazia had quite the 24 hours.

On Tuesday night Digrazia, the Driscoll senior golfing phenom, verbally committed to continue her career at the University of Iowa. On Wednesday afternoon, Digrazia went out and won another regional championship, shooting a 4-over par 74 at The Highlands of Elgin to capture the Class A St. Edward regional title.

Digrazia will be joined by teammate Rose Speidel at Monday's Lena-Winslow sectional after Speidel grabbed the last individual qualifying spot with a 106.

It was Digrazia's second straight regional title at The Highlands. She shot 72 last year to win the title.

"It was a pretty solid round considering the conditions," said Digrazia, who finished second in the Class A state tournament last year. "I didn't do anything special; it was just solid. I birdied 10 and 18 and it's always nice to finish with a birdie."

Digrazia had played The Highlands last week at the Suburban Catholic Conference boys meet and shot an 80 from the men's tees. Wednesday's regional was played from the ladies' tees and had a shorter 5,568-yard layout.

"It helped a lot," said Digrazia of playing the course last week. "I knew the layout pretty well and it helps to have a game plan."

Digrazia's game plan now includes qualifying for -and winning - state.

"If I play well and don't win I won't be upset, but it would be a disappointment," she said. "It's definitely my goal. If someone plays better there's nothing I can do about it but it's definitely my goal to win state."

Westmont won the team championship with a 399. St. Edward (405) and Indian Creek (409) were the other team qualifiers.

Digrazia's 74 beat the field by 12 strokes. Indian Creek's Lindsay Richardson and Willows Academy's Anne Egan tied for second with 86s.