Cape golf team reaches .500 for the season
May 11, 2012
The Cape Henlopen High School Viking golf team managed to reach the .500 mark for the 2012 season, with only a few matches left to go.
The Vikings worked their way to a 3-2 match record before facing off against Caesar Rodney High School’s Riders, in a May 1 round at Wild Quail outside Wyoming. Cape lost 156-186, in a valiant effort against the state’s number one ranked squad.
Elsa Toletti scored her first 39 to lead all Vikings, losing by only two strokes to Joe Visalli, Caesar Rodney’s leading golfer. Cape golf coach Claudio Smarrelli said, “Elsa played very well on an unfamiliar golf course, [with a] birdie on the 16th and a triple 7 on the 10th with an OB. It was a great match for Elsa with a few spectators getting a great exhibition of golf.”
Senior Chase Nelson scored next best for the Vikings with his 48, tied with freshman Mike DiStasio. Smarrelli said, “Chase struggled a bit, losing a ball on the 15th. He shanked his second shot from the fairway to the 16th, and was unable to find his ball in the 5-minute rule. He had to go back and drop another ball with [an eventual] score of 9.” If Nelson had only bogied the hole instead, that would have given him a very respectable 44 for the day.
Nate Griffith completed the Cape scoring against Caesar Rodney with his 51.
The Vikings next faced the Delmar Wildcats, an improving team this year, and lost 177-204 at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. DiStasio and Nelson tied for best among the Vikings with a pair of 48s, but two golfers from Delmar earned medalist honors with a pair of 42s.
Robert Prettyman had the Vikings’ third best score that day, a 51, while Quincy Duckworth contributed his 55 to the losing cause. Smarrelli said many of his players were a bit down in the dumps after the Delmar match, but an intense series of practices thereafter seemed to raise the team’s hopes.
The Vikings bounced back May 7 with a pair of victories in a tri-meet against Seaford and Laurel, on Cape’s Rehoboth Beach CC home course. Toletti shot a 41 to earn medalist honors for the day. “I had six pars, then a double bogey, a bogey, and then another double bogey,” she said. “I had a little bunker trouble in my first double.”
Freshman Mason Jones had his best round of the season with his 44, second best among the squad. “That was my best round here ever,” he said. “I birdied the fourth hole, and parred the fifth and ninth holes. I had two one-putts and a lot of two-putts. The practice helped a lot.”
DiStasio shot a 46 for third place among the Vikings. “I doubled 8 and 9, but I chipped in for par on 2. I had a lot of par putts.”
Nelson blamed how he played the par 3 third and fifth holes for his 49, which completed the team scoring for the day. “The par threes killed me today. I put a ball in the water on 3, and hit a toe shot on 5 that ended up in the mulch. I had to hit it back to the tee box, and got on the green from there, but the damage was done.”
The Vikings then traveled north to Maple Dale Country Club May 8, and lost to Dover 189-202. Toletti and Nelson tied for best among the Vikings with their 48s. DiStasio and Michael Johnson finished the team scoring with their pair of 53s.
Local Club Tournament Results
The Kings Creek Country Club 9-Hole Ladies played what they called a Bakers’ Dozen game May 7. In an 18-hole match, that would normally mean the golfers would use their best scores on thirteen holes, playing in twosomes and with a 50% handicap reduction.
I have to find out what Baker’s Dozen means for a nine-hole match.
Donna Davis won first place for the day, followed by Virginia Rettig in second and Kathy Nave in third. Nave also won the closest to the pin competition.