Cape golf team finishes matches with winning record
The Cape Henlopen High School Vikings golf team won three of its last four matches, assuring the squad of a winning season record for 2012.
After losing a May 8 match against Dover at Maple Dale Country Club, the Vikings returned to the Cape Region for a tri-match against Indian River and Polytech at Kings Creek Country Club May 10.
The Vikings won both matches by close margins. The squad’s 192 total was three strokes better than Polytech, and four strokes ahead of Indian River.
Sophomore Elsa Toletti won medalist honors for the day with a fine 41. She finished a stroke ahead of Indian River’s Taylor Lewis, one of the few other girls competing in Henlopen Conference varsity golf this year.
Chase Nelson scored second best for the Vikings with his 48. Michael DeStasio posted a 50 for third best for Cape, while Mason Jones completed the team scoring with his 53.
The Vikings then hosted Saint Mark’s High School’s Spartans at Kings Creek CC May 14, losing in a rare match play format by 6.5 to 2.5. Toletti won her match 2 and 1 over Nick Ortolanto, and junior Michael Johnon also won his match.
The Cape squad then traveled May 15 to Garrison’s Lake Golf Club, home course for Smyrna High School, and defeated the Eagles 184-203.
Although Conor Brewer won medalist honors for Smyrna with his 42, the rest of his team wasn’t quite up to the task.
Toletti led the Vikings again with her 44 on the par 36 layout, followed by Nelson’s 46. Jones had a 47 for the day, good for third among the Vikings, and was tied by sophomore Nathan Griffith.
The Vikings finished their regular season schedule with an 8-6 record. It remains to be seen if that will suffice to qualify the team for the state championship. In the meantime, Cape will prepare for the upcoming Henlopen Conference championship, to be held May 21 at The Peninsula near Millsboro. Fourteen teams are expected to compete.
Cape’s head golf coach Claudio Smarrelli already had the Vikings play a round at The Peninsula earlier this season to give them some much-needed experience with the difficult Jack Nicklaus design.
Local club tournament results
The Kings Creek Country Club Ladies 18-hole golf group played a Baker’s Dozen tournament May 10, in which the golfers posted their best scores from 13 holes.
Anita Pettitt won the first flight, followed by Bernie Reid and then Barbara Hines in third. Carol Simon finished in first place in the second flight, with Mary Mezger taking second place and Pattie Magee earning third place.
Pettitt also won the closest to the pin competition on the 16th hole, with a shot that ended up 30 feet from the hole.
The Kings Creek CC Ladies 9-hole golf group played a Cross Country tournament May 14.
Chris Sullivan won first-place honors, with Sally Horvath taking second place. Donna Davis finished third, with Susan Spence taking fourth and Kathy Nave finishing in fifth overall.
Spence won the closest to the pin contest. Her shot stopped 10-feet-nine-inches from the hole.
A date with the Cardinal is not what it sounds like
During this year’s Golf Writers’ Association of America tournament, we played our second round at the Cardinal Course of the Country Club of North Carolina. This very pretty layout features several challenges not seen on Cape Region golf courses.
For example, the Cardinal has dozens of these things they call hills. My greenside bunker shot on the 497-yard ninth hole began on the flat sand about 12 feet below the green, with a mound between the bunker and the green adding to the challenging height.
Approach shots that miss the green can also frequently end up in thick patches of pine needles. Pretending those needles are actually sand shots worked out pretty well.
