North Catholic’s Riley Kontul finishes 5th at WPIAL girls golf championships, clinches 2nd PIAA berth
Riley Kontul will head to the Penn State Golf Courses with a little more experience, more familiarity.
The North Catholic sophomore booked her trip to her second straight PIAA Class 2A Girls Golf Individual Championships on Wednesday, finishing fifth in the WPIAL championship at 26-over across two rounds of golf.
“I see her going into that round relaxed, playing confident,” Trojanettes head coach Jennifer Campbell said. “She’s coming in a little bit better. ... I see her doing well.”
Sewickley Heights Golf Club, the site of Wednesday’s final, presented challenges to much of the field. Kontul was not driving the ball “the way she usually does or the way she usually likes,” Campbell said, but was able to play a good short game.
“She’s such a smart golfer — she was getting very unlucky where the ball was landing — she was able to make good bounce-back shots,” Campbell said.
Kontul shot 8-over in last week’s first round at Seven Oaks Country Club and 18-over 90 Wednesday. The first-round score bought her plenty of wiggle room, her coach said.
The PIAA Class 2A championships will be held Oct. 20-21 on Penn State’s White Course.
The North sophomore, who Campbell said already has two holes-in-one in her career, shot 41-over last year in the WPIAL tournament, improving by 17 strokes this year.
Kontul is the lone Butler County girls golfer to advance to states. Teammate Izzy Engleka finished 15th at 54-over; in 3A, Mars’ Makenna Miler (tied 13th) and Elise Wadas (15th) missed the cut at 33-over and 34-over, respectively.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang won the WPIAL 2A title at 7-over, and Elizabeth Forward’s Mya Morgan shot even par for the tournament to win 3A gold.
