Nessa McKie felt the nerves when she stepped up to the first tee at Kanon Valley Country Club Tuesday afternoon, and she promptly mishit her drive, the ball barely traveling 50 yards.
Yet when the playoff for the last Section III berth in next month’s state tournament at SUNY-Delhi was complete, it was McKie smiling as she overcame her rough start to defeat Fayetteville-Manlius’ Maggie Bonomo.
It brought a surprising end to a long, wild day of action in Oneida, where team sectional championships in two divisions were decided (Auburn won Division I again, Westhill claimed its first-ever Division II crown) and nine golfers advanced to the state tournament.
They did so on a Kanon Valley Course inundated by an inch of rain in the previous 24 hours. For the late finishers, things got even tougher when a noontime downpour left standing water on some of the greens.
Still, they finished, and by the time McKie turned in her card, most of the scores were in place, including Bonomo’s 92, which left her alone in ninth place.
Playing the back nine in 42 shots to offset a front-nine 50, McKie ended up with 92. So they went back to the opening tee, and after McKie’s short hit, Bonomo put it in the middle of the fairway.
It took five shots for McKie to reach the green, but she two putted, while Bonomo, who reached the green in three, somehow took four putts, and the playoff went on.
As the pressure built, Bonomo, perhaps shaken by her results on the previous green, took another seven. McKie recorded a six, and she advanced to the state tournament.
To lead this group, Section III has Auburn star Lindsay May, the 2014 state individual champion, who posted a 78 to win here, too, by seven shots over Maroons teammate Maggie Lesch.
Two Jamesville-DeWitt golfers, Jung-Hye Kim and Alanna Jones, are part of the state team, too, along with Westhill’s Julia Miesner, New Hartford’s Sydney Bard and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Olivia Evans. Bonomo is the first alternate.
C-NS had several solid efforts in the sectional tournament, including Jessica Doran and Sydney Walker each shooting 98, just six shots out of the McKie-Bonomo playoff. Liverpool’s lone sectional qualifier, Alessa Main, finished with a 104.
