- WEEKLY POLL
Three area girls finish 1-2-3 at Farr junior golf event
By J. Patrick Eaken
Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com
Three area female high school golfers, Rachel Brown ( Genoa), Alyssa Shimel (Eastwood), and Nicole Woggon ( Oak Harbor), finished 1-2-3 in the Gold Flight at the Jamie Farr Girls Junior Amateur golf tournament last Wednesday at The Legacy.
After 10 holes (not 9, the day was shortened due to rain) on the first day, Brown led with a 41, Shimmel was in second with a 42, and Woggon was in sixth with a 48. On the second day, Nicole Woggon, or “Nikki,” as it says on her card, finished the last day of the tournament with a two-over par 38, including six pars and three bogeys, after finishing her first round of the final day with a 43.
Shimmel was the champion with a score of 42-72-114 for the two day event and will receive a $750 educational scholarship that will be presented at the 18 th green ceremony at Highland Meadows at the Jamie Farr Open. Brown followed at 41-84-125, and Woggon was third at 48-81-129.
The girls were part of the event’s number one of three flights, the Gold Flight, in the event which was held in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Maumee Valley Council. It was part of events leading up to the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger annual LPGA golf tournament held each summer in Sylvania.
In the Silver Flight, Le Anna Pickerel of Genoa tied for the championship with a two-day score of 49-84-133. The co-champion was tying Ellen Wasserbauer of Hudson, Ohio. Both finished one stroke ahead of Yang Li of Perrysburg ( Maumee Valley), who scored 49-85-134.
Shimel will start realizing a dream at Jamie Farr
By Mark Griffin
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
Some day, Alyssa Shimel hopes to be one of those women competing in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania.
Shimel, a sophomore at Eastwood High School who rates Annika Sorenstam as her favorite pro golfer, said “That’s my dream, to play on the LPGA Tour when I get older.”
Shimel will be honored at this year’s Jamie Farr tournament when she is presented with a $750 educational scholarship on July 15 at the 18th Green Ceremony at Highland Meadows during the conclusion of the Jamie Farr tournament.
She earned the scholarship by winning the Gold Flight at the Girls Junior Golf Amateur Tournament held June 19-20 at the Legacy by Arthur Hills Golf Course in Ottawa Lake, Mich.
The Girl Scouts of Maumee Valley Council partnered with the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic for the fifth year to present the girls tournament.
The first round consisted of a 10-hole qualifier due to rain, and the final round was 18 holes and consisted of three brackets: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Awards were given to the top three competitors in each flight.
Shimel shot a 42-72—114 to beat runner-up and good friend Rachel Brown of Genoa High School, who shot a 41-84—125.
Shimel said she thought Brown would be the player to watch out for during the tourney.
“She had a one-stroke lead and she is a very good golfer,” Shimel said. “I knew she could shoot well at this course, too.”
Shimel had played in the Jamie Farr Junior Girls Amateur the previous four years, but this was the first time she walked away with the trophy. She placed second last year, which motivated her for the 2007 event.
“I was so close last year,” Shimel said. “I really wanted to come back this year and win it. It meant a lot. I really work hard and I wanted to win every year. I work hard every summer so I can win this tournament.”
Shimel said her first day of this year’s tournament went “real good.”
“I was even through eight holes and happened to bogey 9 and 10,” she said. “I was hitting the ball extremely well. The second day, I played extremely well. My putting was probably the best it’s been.
“I had a few seven-foot par putts. The greens are usually my weakness, but if I work hard enough, I do pretty good.”
Brown, a junior at Genoa, started taking golf lessons when she was 7.
“I loved it,” she recalled. “My grandpa (Jim Schimming) had me swinging clubs in the backyard.”
She played in this event last year but was unable to crack the top three. That’s why taking second in this year’s tournament was so special.
“It was definitely a big thing,” Brown said. “I’m sending all my scores to colleges, so every tournament is a big thing. I really wanted to do well. I wanted to do well and get in the Gold Flight. The last two years, I was in the Silver.”
Brown said she played very well on the first day, until rain shortened the round to just 10 holes. She finished with a 41 for the round.
“On the first nine I had a 36,” she said, “which is first time I ever shot even par. Then I bogeyed No. 10. It was a par-4 and I went in the water. I was pretty confident with how I was playing, and I was happy with my putting.
“The next day, with my putting, they weren’t dropping but it wasn't a horrible score.”
Brown added that she wasn’t surprised that Shimel won the tournament.
“She’s very consistent,” Brown said. “I know whenever I’m going to play with her, she’s going to shoot well.”
Nichole Woggon, a senior at Oak Harbor High School, was the third-place finisher in the Gold Flight, with a score of 48-81—129.
“I wasn’t playing that well that (first) day,” Woggon said. “It was OK, but I could have done better. My short game was off, definitely. I’m trying to work on my short game this year. My long game works, for the most part.”
Woggon was at the bottom of the Gold Flight during the first day, but just beat the cutoff (49) that would have sent her down one flight.
“On the second day, the first nine wasn’t the best, but it wasn't the worst,” she said. “I started off with two pars on the second nine. I decided I’m going to keep parring and see how it goes. I only had two bogeys on the second nine.”
Woggon, who took second in the Bronze Flight at last year’s tournament, said she had a great time competing against other area girls at the Ottawa Lake course.
“I was playing for fun and experience,” she said. “I played in it last year and had a lot of fun and I wanted to play in it again.”
In the Silver Flight, Ellen Wasserbauer from Hudson, Ohio, took first with a score of 49-84—133. LeAnna Pickerel of Genoa was second at 49-84—133, followed by Yang Li of Maumee Valley Country Day School with a score of 49-85—134.
Pickerel, a 2007 graduate of Genoa High School, had to settle for second place following a scorecard playoff with Wasserbauer.
Pickerel, who played in the Girls Junior Golf Amateur a year ago, will attend Bowling Green State University and said she may try to walk on to the women's golf team.
She said her putter left her high and dry on the first day of this tournament.
“I wasn’t hitting the ball that poorly, I just couldn't make any putts,” Pickerel said. “I struggled around the greens, and I normally look forward to the greens.
“Some days you strike the ball a lot better and everything seems to go around the hole. I couldn’t sink any reasonable putts.”
The second day’s 18-hole play started on the course’s back nine.
“The back, to me, is the most challenging,” Pickerel said. “There are a couple holes that really get me, but I played the back nine very well and then I got to the front nine, which is the easier nine, and I didn't play all that well.”
Woggon chosen Lake Erie’s Jr. Player of the Year
By J. Patrick Eaken
Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com
Nichole Woggon, Oak Harbor senior, accomplished her goal for the summer season by coming in first in the Lake Erie Junior Golf Association's 14-18 year old girls division and being awarded the Player of the Year trophy.
Woggon won LEJGA Tournaments at Fremont Country Club, Thunderbird North, Eagle Creek, and Sawmill Creek. She carded a career-best 76 and defeated her opponent on a second playoff hole to capture the event at Eagle Creek.
She also has four second place finishes in the 11 LEJGA events she has participated in this summer. She came in first at the final event at the Catawba Island Club Invitational in Port Clinton on July 31, finished third in the non-LEJGA two day Legacy Tournament, and placed fifth out of a field of 75 girls at the Ohio Girls Golf Foundation Tournament at Avon Oaks Country Club.
Woggon has golfed on the LEJGA circuit for six years. Nichole has earned first-team All-Sandusky Bay Conference status all three years in high school and says she is looking forward to her senior campaign as a Rocket.
Woggon Runner-Up
The Oak Harbor Rockets' Nichole Woggon was two strokes off the leader at 88 for second in Flight G at the Lake Erie Junior Golf Association Sleepy Hollow Open on July 12.
Woggon followed by playing in the Ohio Girls Golf Foundations tournament at Avon Oaks Country Club, Avon, on July 16. In Avon, Barb Mucha, an LPGA professional, and golf professional Judd Stephenson and Patty Jacobson gave rotating clinics.
Woggon scored an 80 and came in fifth out of a field of 75 lady golfers at Avon Oaks. Katie Rogner of Warren John F. Kennedy came in first with a score of 70; Ariel Witmer, North Lima, scored 77; and Rachel Levi, Brookpark, and Katie Kohut, Twinsburg, each had a 78.
Nine high school teams were competing along with 21 individual players. First team honors went to Magnificat with a score of 341.
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