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GOLF: McDaniel makes top five at State

Posted October 17, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville junior Heather McDaniel put the finishing touches on the best individual season by a Panther golfer in school history on Saturday, earning a fifth place showing and her second straight top-ten medal at the IHSA Class A State Golf Finals at Red Tail Run Golf Club in Decatur.

McDaniel improved upon her position in last year's State Finals by one and bettered her two-day 36-hole total from 2010 by 8 strokes, shooting 158.

This year's state tournament had, arguably, more talent than the one McDaniel placed sixth in a year ago. 2011 Class A winners Normal University High were among those dropping down this season from Class AA, where they were champions three times. Normal senior Katherine Hepler (71-77-148) also took home the individual title by six strokes over Norridge sophomore Sabrina Bonanno (79-75-154).

"It definitely made the competition harder (this year)," McDaniel said.

Normal edged Nashville by just one stroke to claim the state championship.

McDaniel sat tenth after shooting 81 on Friday where she, and over half of the field, ran into trouble on hole No. 15. Hers was one of 43 double-bogeys on the fifteenth in round one, but on Saturday, McDaniel took advantage of a little good fortune. After a drive into the fairway, McDaniel's second shot on the par-four fifteenth came off the club low and hot, but still ended up crossing the water hazard and coming to rest on the edge of the green.

"I had a feeling I was going to hit that one thin because I hadn't been real consistent with my irons (on Saturday)," McDaniel said. "I did that (Friday) and hit it in the sand trap, but today it went left of the sand trap and I got really lucky."

McDaniel would par the hole, something only 26 of the 111 competitors on Saturday could claim.

Earlier in her Saturday round, McDaniel triple-bogeyed the eleventh, but bounced right back with a birdie at No. 12, which played as the second most difficult hole on day two.

"I kept it consistent, I only bogeyed once more after that," McDaniel said. "Overall I was really happy with my score."

McDaniel has now advanced to state in all three of her years at PCHS and is the only Pinckneyville golfer ever to make it past Sectionals. Her second-round score of 77 was tied for third best on the day behind Bonanno (75) and Rockford's Bailey Peck (74).

Sierra Myerscough (Champaign St. Thomas More) finished third individually with a two-day total of 155 and Nashville sophomore Shawn Rennegarbe (157) was fourth. LeRoy's Molly Marcum (159), Rockford's Bailey Peck (160), Kankakee McNamara's Gina Vallone (161), and Quincy Notre Dame's Jamie Ehrhart (161) rounded out the top nine while Knoxville's Taylor Thompson, Eldorado's Taylor Goodley and Monmouth United's Justine Peel all shot 162 to tie for tenth.

Massac County came in third behind Normal (686) and Nashville (687) with a team total of 701.

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