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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WARSAW –- The Rochester girls golf team prepared for perhaps their toughest 18-hole tournament of the season with a 179-213 loss to host Warsaw on the front nine at muggy, overcast Rozella Ford Golf Course Thursday.
Freshman Ava Thomas led the Lady Zs with a 44. Payton Moore added a 48, Reagan Becker had a 59, and Kat Rensberger and Delaney Barkman each had a 62.
Avery Brouyette led the RHS JV with a 56, and Emma Bays had a 64.
Warsaw’s Delaney Byron was the medalist with a 43. Marie Frazzetta had a 44, Olivia Robinson-Gay and Abigail Davis each had a 46, and Abbey Peterson had a 51.
Players played in foursomes. Moore had ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Rochester lineup after having lower scores than Thomas in the first two tournaments, but that was rendered somewhat moot since Moore, Thomas and Warsaw’s top two players, Frazzetta and Robinson-Gay, played together.
Rensberger, Barkman, Byron and Peterson also played together.
“I know Ava was probably pretty comfortable with the group she played with,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “She gets along well with Payton, and one of the Warsaw girls, Olivia, Ava has gotten to know her through summer tournaments, and she’s a great kid, so it was a fun group for them, I’m sure. And so Ava was probably pretty relaxed. She hit her driver really, really well and had a couple holes where she kinda blew it on the approaches, but overall, she was pretty solid today.”
Iron play and club selection with those irons would appear to be paramount at Rozella Ford. The course has many elevated greens.
“Iron play is important here,” coach Thomas said. “There are some shorter par-4s that if you get in a good position off the tee and hit a good iron, you really could do well here. I did not think we hit our irons very good. I saw a lot of shots wasted with the wedges and and the irons, and it’s something we need to get better at and work on.”
Rochester next travels to Chippendale Golf Course in Kokomo for the 18-hole Western Invitational at 8 a.m. Saturday.
“It is a great measuring stick because it is such a strong tournament,” coach Thomas said. “Historically, it’s filled with some of the top teams in the state. So it’s not only a good measuring stick, but it’s also a good learning experience. I don’t know who we’re going to be paired with, but we’ve had some great pairings in the past. … If you get an opportunity to play in a group like that and see how they handle different shots and see how they handle different shots and see where they hit it … I always tell the girls when you’re playing with somebody like that, you’re trying to learn as much as you can: What do they do with their game that you need to improve upon? How can you copy that?”
at Rozella Ford Golf Course, Warsaw, Thursday (front nine, par 35)
WARSAW (179): Delaney Byron 43 (medalist), Marie Frazzetta 44, Olivia Robinson-Gay 46, Abigail Davis 46, (Abbey Peterson 51)
ROCHESTER (213): Ava Thomas 44, Payton Moore 48, Reagan Becker 59, Kat Rensberger 62, (Delaney Barkman 62)
ROCHESTER JV: Avery Brouyette 56, Emma Bays 64
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