April 26, 2024

Cardinal girls’ golf wins

By Jocelyn Sheets

Newton High senior Emily Fitzgerald taps in a putt during Tuesday’s home golf meet at Westwood Golf Course. Newton picked up where it left off last year in Little Hawkeye Conference play winning a triangular against visiting Grinnell and Oskaloosa. The Newton girls played on back-to-back days to open the 2016 season. (Jocelyn Sheets)

The weather was better and so were the Newton High Cardinal girls’ golfers in their second meet in two days. Newton won its home opener Tuesday at Westwood Golf Course.

Newton played in blustery conditions Monday at Urbandale to begin the 2016 season. At home Tuesday, the defending Little Hawkeye Conference champions captured a conference triangular on a sunny, cool and less windy afternoon.

The Cardinals posted a 202 four-player score in the nine-hole meet. Grinnell was second at 239 and Oskaloosa finished third with a 252.

“We took a step in the right direction,” Newton head coach Scott Enyart said. “The wind wasn’t as strong as it was when we played Monday, but the girls had to contend with some wind out there. It was good to see our team score go down — 209 to 202.”

Grinnell’s Alisha Ford was the meet medalist with a 46. Newton’s Jessica Reynolds was the runner-up medalist with a 47. A stroke back from Reynolds was her teammate Jessie Smith with a 48.

Emily Fitzgerald carded a 52 and Lizzy Coyle ended up with a 55 for the Cardinals’ team scoring. Alayna Reynolds came in at 61 and Taylor Dydell improved to 63.

“Jessica had a really strong round with three pars at holes No. 2 and 3 and No. 6,” Enyart said. “She is focused and determined to maintain her good start to the season. Jessie was swinging with better tempo today and had a birdie — shooting a 4 on the par-5 No. 9.”

Enyart said Fitzgerald was hitting the ball with consistency Tuesday, but had a few too many putts not the day. Coyle opened the day with a par on No. 1 to set the tone of her round.

“Our girls were warmed up and focused going into our home meet. We had our ups and downs out there, but that’s golf,” Enyart said. “We have three days of nice weather to work on our games. It’s nice to have a group of players who are excited about working on the little things to improve.”

Newton plays in Monday’s West Des Moines Vally Invitational. Tee time is 10 a.m.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com