Even in a new venue, the result proved the same — the Fayetteville-Manlius girls golf team winning the Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Pro-Junior Challenge.
A year ago, the Hornets prevailed at the Links at Erie Village. This time around, they moved to Drumlins Country Club’s East Course, the new home of the Futures Tour’s Alliance Bank Golf Classic.
On a warm and windy Wednesday morning, F-M’s quartet of Alex Seabury, Sara Simons, Maria Mintskovsky and Lela Feldmeier joined Futures professional Sara Brown in posting a six-under-par 29 best-ball score on Drumlins East’s back nine.
That was enough for the Hornets to beat Rome Free Academy and Auburn by two shots, with the Black Knights taking the tie-breaker for second amid a field of 14 teams.
Brown, a Michigan State graduate residing in Tuscon, Ariz., had the advantage of having played Drumlins East the day before in a practice round. She said that helped a bit, but that the F-M players helped her more.
“They told me everything,” Brown said. “We had pretty good teamwork.”
On that last part, Brown wasn’t kidding. Each member of the F-M quartet played a large role in securing the victory.
F-M was even par through two holes (having just missed a pair of birdie tries) when, on the downhill par-3 16th, Mintskovsky lit the spark, hitting her tee shot to a foot, nearly a hole-in-one, for an easy birdie.
Two holes later, on the 18th, facing a birdie putt of 10 feet, Simons drained it, putting the Hornets at two under. But the fun was only beginning.
On the par-4 10th, a long putt fell for birdie, and F-M was three under. Then on the par-3 12th, Feldmeier hit her tee shot to 12 feet, then made the putt for a solo birdie.
One hole remained — the 13th, a par-5 with a 90-degree dogleg left. Few pros were able to reach the dogleg, but Seabury did with a huge drive, then hit her second shot onto the green, 35 feet from the hole.
Facing a long, downhill, left-to-right putt, Feldmeier didn’t flinch. She hit it at just the right speed, and it found the hole for an eagle three, creating the two-shot winning margin.
At a brunch following the event, each of the F-M players, plus Brown and coaches Anne Miller and Tom Chaddock, received individual trophies, and the team received a large gold cup for display in its school until next year’s event.
The final standings:
1. Fayetteville-Manilus, 29
2. Rome Free Academy, 31
3. Auburn, 31
4. Liverpool, 32
5. East Syracuse-Minoa, 32
6. Westhill, 32
7. Christian Brothers Academy, 33
8. Jamesville-DeWitt, 33
9. Skaneateles, 33
10. Chittenango, 34
11. Cazenovia, 34
12. Cicero-North Syracuse, 35
13. Marcellus, 36
14. Central Square, 36
