HS golf: Wildcat provides change of pace for local girls

It was a nice change of pace for many of the 19 athletes who participated in the girls portion of the Wildcat Invitational golf tournament at the Mohegan Sun Country Club at Pautipaug in Baltic on Monday.
Norwich Free Academy, Woodstock and Bacon Academy all have girls programs, but for players like Toni Malerba of St. Bernard, Albriana Farnum of Fitch, Becca Lynch of Ledyard and Kiana Hainesworth of Williams, it was a breath of fresh air.
Instead of competing from the back tees against male players for the most part, they got to compete against their female peers – one of only two times that will occur this season.
“Both Albriana and Toni have played No.1 for their respective teams, so I think it was nice for them to be able to go out and play against the girls in equal competition I guess you could say,” Fitch coach Glen Graham said.
He added, “They’ve been pretty dominant on the boy’s team, so I had her playing in the girls division just to get her some personal accolades.”
For the longest time, it looked as though Graham’s strategy would work out just perfectly as both Malerba, a senior, and Farnum, a junior, brought in identical 46 scores.
Afterwards, however, Malerba was not happy with that score.
“I missed a three-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and got a five on it,” Malerba said with a wince. “I started off slow, got a little better, but I’m majorly disappointed.”
The twin 46’s stood for much of the tournament until the next-to-last group when Ledyard’s Becca Lynch came in three strokes better.
“I was really happy, I play a lot better from the women’s tees,” Lynch said. “It’s a lot easier to play with the girls, we get along better, and it’s easier to talk to them.”
Lynch’s lead was also short-lived.
In the last group was Kiana Hainesworth from the Williams School. The sophomore, who’s swing reminds her coach of Michelle Wie’s, shot a smooth 41 to take home the individual championship.
“I’m thrilled, absolutely thrilled with how well she played,” coach Tom Crowell said. “I know how well plays, it’s making her understand how well she plays.”
Hainesworth said the key for her was a simple game plan, keep focused on her game and take it one stroke at a time.
“I would like to play in college one day, but I’m going to have to practice more if I want to do that,” Hainesworth said.
That and add a little muscle to her long and thin frame as Crowell said the key for the sophomore might be to go on an offseason workout plan to add a little strength to her game.