When Emporia High’s Maryann Bennett birdied her first hole of the Emporia Invitational golf tournament Tuesday at the Emporia Municipal Golf Course, she had a feeling it might be a pretty good day.
“I was pretty impressed with that,” Bennett said. “That’s a nice way to start the tournament off.”
Turns out Bennett did have quite a day for herself, as she finished eighth individually to lead the way for the Lady Spartans in the first tournament of the season. She carded a 14-over 50, putting her 11 strokes off the tournament winner, Jerrica Essman of Washburn Rural (3-over 39).
The Lady Spartans as a team finished sixth out of seven teams with a team score of 240. Washburn Rural won the team title going away with a 164.
For Bennett, who said she struggled with getting much distance out of her drives all day, said her round was saved by an ability to hit solid shots from the fairway.
“I’ve played better, but I’ve played worse also,” she said. “My second shots were good. I didn’t have great drives … but my fairway and approach shots up close to the green were pretty good.”
Hannah Watkins turned in the next lowest score of the day for EHS with a 60, while Rachel Clopton finished two strokes back with a 62.
Bennett, Watkins and Clopton are Emporia’s lone returners this season, and coach Rick Eckert said the trio started its season off well.
“I was very pleased with their results,” Eckert said. “I know they were a little frustrated and thought they should have shot a little lower, but that’s life. You always think that there’s a stroke here and there that you can save, but I think they did a good job today.”
Emporia also had its four newcomers compete in their first competitive tournament. Seung-Yun Shin turned in a 68, while Melissa Heintz, Makenzie Harder and Candice Price each carded a 70. The top four scores count in the team total.
In all, Eckert said he was pleased with some of the things he saw from his team in its first action of the season.
“Obviously, I think we can shoot lower scores than what we shot today,” he said, “but the good thing was the girls had very good attitudes and they worked as hard as they could, and that’s all I can ask.
“I think we’re off to a good start and I’m looking forward to a lot of progress the rest of the season.”