Staying in the hunt
PENN TWP — With a smooth swing that is much bigger than her slight frame, Marissa DeCola found the fairways off the tee with regularity at Butler Country Club on a windy Tuesday morning.
DeCola shot a 77 in the second round of the Pennsylvania Junior Girls Golf Championship. The score tied for the best round of the day and put her four strokes off the lead heading into the final round of the 54-hole tournament today.
"I'm playing better now than I have in a long time," said DeCola, who just finished her sophomore year at Butler. "I hit fairways, and I got up and down very well."
DeCola had seven pars and a birdie on the front nine for a 36 at the turn. She struggled on two holes on the back nine, including a double-bogey on No. 18, to fall back to fourth place.
DeCola said she paid dearly when her tee shots went awry.
"When I missed the fairways, the rough was pretty thick," DeCola said. "I chunked a couple of shots."
DeCola shot an 81 in the rain on Monday.
Things were much drier on the course Tuesday, but a brisk wind blew throughout the round.
DeCola, who was one of the few golfers to shoot a better score on the second day than the first, said Tuesday she is pleased with her position heading into the final round this morning.
"This is the closest I've been to winning this," DeCola said.
Emily Gimpel of Lafayette Hills also shot a 77 Tuesday to match her first-round score. Gimpel leads Nadia Luttner of Pittsburgh and Ann Colligan of Kittanning by three strokes.
Luttner won the WPIAL Girls Golf Championship for the second time last fall as a junior at Fox Chapel, edging DeCola and Colligan.
Both Luttner and Colligan shot a 77 Tuesday.DeCola was playing the second round with a bit of a handicap. Her caddie, Slippery Rock High grad Jenna Rinker, was stricken with food poisoning Monday night and couldn't be at the tournament.DeCola lugged her own bag around the course and was on her own reading yardage and greens."It really helps to have someone with her experience helping me, talking to me, keeping me calm and focused," DeCola said. "I was probably better mentally (Monday)."DeCola said she had been playing poorly for much of the summer until a recent trip to a golf camp at Purdue University helped turn things around."We worked a lot on the short game," DeCola said. "That's very important, especially in a tournament like this."Consistency continues to elude Gibsonia native and Mars High golfer Alexa Glew.She sparkled on some holes and fizzled on others during another frustrating day, carding a second-round score of 98 a day after struggling to a 94.The problems that plagued her Monday were strengths on Tuesday."It was the complete opposite," Glew said. "Very disappointing. I hit the greens better today, but my putting was really off."
