Cullerton's 76 leads Batavia to Independent title
Tara Cullerton had a look of second-guessing herself while fruitlessly searching for her tee shot on the par-4 fourth hole at Bliss Creek Golf Course on Tuesday afternoon.
The ball ultimately found a watery grave, but the Batavia sophomore exacted revenge in the best possible manner.
"That was not good," Cullerton said of the penalty shot on the risk-reward hole.
After failing to convert her par effort during the Independent Conference girls golf tournament in Sugar Grove, Cullerton ended her day in style.
The Bulldogs' top-rated player drained a 25-foot birdie on the fifth hole, extended the red-number string to two with a 12-foot conversion on the par-3 sixth and made it three in a row with another short birdie at No. 7.
Cullerton had a 35-foot birdie putt on her final hole in the shotgun start to finish level on the front nine, only to see it die at the end.
But the resulting 37, combined with a 5-over-par 39 on the back nine, enabled Cullerton to cruise to the individual title with a 76.
Batavia junior Megan Ramp was equally deadly on her opening nine to flavor her second-place 81, and sophomore Kayla Lehman posted an 84 as the Bulldogs captured the top-three positions to win the truncated four-team field - the Western Sun Conference has only three girls golf programs - with a 341.
Geneva, the two-time defending champion, was second with a 388, followed by second-year upstart Glenbard South, which edged Suburban Metro member Riverside-Brookfield by a stroke (388-389).
"I know I have had two (birdies in a row), but not three," Cullerton said of her 3-under finish on the final four holes. "I knew which way (the putt at No. 5) was breaking, although I didn't know how much. The backside (39) was relatively consistent, but I couldn't make any putts."
Ramp, meanwhile, had 7 pars on the par-34 inward nine to record the lowest score (38) on the hazard - and out-of-bounds-laden - home nine.
After a shaky start on the No. 1-handicapped first hole, Ramp regained her form and birdied her final hole of the day, the seventh, to place runner-up by 3 shots.
"My irons worked really well for me and drives helped," Ramp said.
Lehman and Geneva senior Shannon Delaney posted matching 84s, but the former earned third courtesy of the scorecard playoff.
Even with Alejandre Serrate shooting an uncharacteristically high 100, also matched by fellow junior Abby Guazzelli, the Bulldogs eased to the title by 40 shots over Geneva.
Batavia coach Leon Pedraza cannot wait for his charges to move into the Upstate Eight Conference next fall.
"It's going to be great to play in a legitimate conference," Pedraza said. "That's a class conference for girls golf."
Delaney was backed by Mel Schlenker (90), Emily Comperda (99) and Jessie Matthiesen (108) for the Vikings' collective effort.
"I felt good about what I did, but I could have been so much better," Delaney said.
Glenbard South has discovered the golfing totem pole has multiple rungs when knocking heads with the more entrenched programs.
"We've never played 18 holes this year," said Glenbard South sophomore Victoria Yang, who led the Raiders with a 92.
"The (18-hole) invites are jam-packed (on the weekends)," Glenbard South coach Kevin Berner said.
But in its second year of existence, the Raiders' program is already making inroads to respectability.
Glenbard South was able to field two eight-player teams at both levels on Tuesday, and the targeted goal for varsity - a sub-400 collective showing - was easily reached.