Bettis, Stars prevail
Finally.
After four years of a love-hate relationship with Elgin Country Club, St. Charles North's Brooke Bettis came out on top.
Bettis, who struggled in her freshman, sophomore and junior years at ECC, shot a 36 to claim top individual honors. Her score also helped the North Stars claim their fifth straight Elgin County Club Tournament (hosted by South Elgin) by shooting a 182 to edge out Geneva (183).
"I had some beef with this course," said Bettis, who has shot a 49, 46 and 44, respectively in each of the last three seasons. "Every year I have played here, I played pretty poorly. It feels good to finally come out here and play like I know I can."
Hampshire freshman Taylor Ellett started off her ECC tournament on a different note. Ellett shot a 43 to finish second. Hampshire finished with a 214, led by Ellett's low round. Ellett's score was also good enough to edge out St. Charles North's Molly Fregen (44).
"The greens were tough today," Ellett said. "You had to be in the right spot just to 2-putt."
The North Stars' 1-stroke team victory helped erase a match defeat against Geneva last week. The North Stars were without Bettis in the dual meet, but Monday was about more than just one player. Fremgen (44) finished third and Marin Beagley (50) and Miranda Fenel (52) both played solid in some tough conditions.
"All of the girls struggled with the greens," North Stars coach Chris Patrick said. "We're still pretty inexperienced at the bottom of the lineup. (But) Brooke is mentally tough and Milly had 6 greens in regulation."
St. Charles North made it five straight wins in this tourney thanks in large part to Bettis' score. Geneva took a different approach. All five of the Vikings' golfers finished within 2 strokes of each other. Lindsay Fansler (45) took fourth via a tiebreaker but tied for overall score with Trish Harrington (45). Kim Connor came in a stroke behind and Shannon Delaney and Kelsey Kale both shot 47. Even though the tournament counts the top four scores, the consistency was what Geneva coach Eric Hatczel wanted to see.
"It's been so great," Hatczel said of the parity. "The girls have been shooting like this all year. We just don't have that one low player who makes the difference."
Senior Erica Maisto (46) led Burlington Central (202) to a third-place finish. The Rockets were 1 stroke better than the Bartlett/South Elgin/Streamwood co-op, which was led by a 45 from Carly Schneider.
Schneider finished fifth individually, beating out Harrington and Dundee-Crown's Erin Hayes on a tiebreaker. St. Edward (205) was led by Hannah Carter (47) and Erin Schneider (49) and the Elgin/Larkin (248) co-op got a season-best score from Kristin Chramowicz (49). Jacobs (215) was led by Kristen Johnson (50).