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WOOD RIVER – A pair of area girls golf teams were among several teams who got their 2018 season underway Friday at Belk Park’s golf course in Wood River with the Alton Kickoff Classic tournament, with Alton hosting Edwardsville, Collinsville, Belleville East, O’Fallon and Highland on the par-72, 4,911-yard layout.
O’Fallon won the tournament with a 219, with Edwardsville finishing second with a 224, East third at 251, a second O’Fallon team fourth at 255, Collinsville fifth at 260, Alton sixth at 262, a second Edwardsville squad seventh at 267 and Highland eighth with a 271.
The tournament was played with a scramble format on the front nine, where two golfers from the same team are paired together and the duo choose the best ball to shoot from after teeing off, and a shamble format on the back nine, where golfers tee off and choose the best drive, then play individual balls from that spot until they complete each hole; the lowest scores are recorded for each duo.
“We did well,” said Redbird coach Carey Cappel. “We had three new golfers on the course today, Natalie Messinger, Josie Gertz and Riley Kenney; all of them played their first rounds for Alton and did great – they’ve been working hard all summer. The girls were really excited about today.
“I’m pleased with their performance today, their attitude and I’m looking forward to next week,” when the Madison County Girls Golf Championship takes place at the Legacy Golf Course in Pontoon Beach.
Edwardsville opened their season the day before by playing in the Prep Tour Showcase tournament in Oglesby, firing a team 355 to help a group of Southern Illinois schools win the event; EHS finished in an equal seventh place on the day. “It’s a good opening, kind-of-get-those-jitters-out (tournament) so we really can kind of kick off the season,” said Tiger coach Abby Comerford. “Riley Lewis, along with Emily Coulter, were together today; they had the (Tigers’) low score of (2-under) 70 and played very well today.
“This is great to get the season started; we had some freshmen (playing Friday) – this kind of gets those jitters out of not really knowing what exactly to expect.”
Messinger teamed with Jenna Fleming to combine for an 8-over 80 while Kenney and Gertz combined for a 91 for the day for Alton, while the Tigers’ Sydney Sahuri and Riley Burns combined for a 1-over 73 for EHS’ second-low score Friday.
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