In Her First Year Of Competitive Golf, Sophomore Jinger Nieuwenhuis Shot A 109 Over 18 Holes At Primghar And Finished 17th In The Regional Tourney.

Samantha Wilbur Finished Fifth In The Regionals At Primghar And Advanced On To Wednesday’s Regional Final At Newell.

South O’Brien hosted the Class 1A Regional Girls Golf Tournament at Primghar Golf & CC on Friday, May 13. It was a near-perfect day for golf weather-wise, but many of the golfers took penalty strokes during their front 9 and had to play catch up on their second 9. Central Lyon took 1st with a 386 and moved on to the Regional Final in Newell on Wednesday, May 18. Remsen St. Mary’s and Kingsley-Pierson tied for 2nd with a 428. The tie-breaker came down to the scores of the 5th and then the 6th golfers on each team. St. Mary’s won the tie-breaker and moved on to the Regional Finals as well.
The South O’Brien Girls concluded their season finishing 7th with a 466. However junior Samantha Wilbur placed 5th with 98 and will compete in the Regional Final individually. Wilbur shot an uncharacteristic 52 on the front but came back strong with a 46 to finish in the top 6. Watching her birdie #9 to finish the day was a sure sign of her unfinished business. She was determined to play in the Regional Final at Newell and is doing so.
Other top individual places went to Mariah Gerleman-CL 91-1st, Sidney Tritz-RSM 94-2nd, Jaina Groen-CL 95-3rd, Amelia Schneidermann-CL 97-4th, and Abby Thompson-KP 99-6th. Other top cards for South O’Brien were sophomore Jinger Nieuwenhuis with a 109 (17th) and junior Whitney Einck with a 115 (26th).
Our small team of only five girls, three new to competitive golf, battled through some inexperience and challenging weather this year. However, they found ways to win some matches and earn several medals. If the girls spend some time on the course and work at improving this summer, we will have a lot to look forward to next season.
Team Scores (top 2 teams advance to Regional Final)
Central Lyon 386, Remsen St. Mary’s (won tiebreaker – 6th score) 428, Kingsley-Pierson 428, Gehlen Catholic 446, Boyden-Hull 447, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 450, South O’Brien 466, MMCRU 473.
South O’Brien Scores (18 holes)
Samantha Wilbur 52-46–98, Jinger Nieuwenhuis 55-54–109, Whitney Einck 59-56–115, Addison Bruegemann 65-79–144, Chloe Gergen 80-108–188.
Individual Regional Final Qualifiers
Mariah Gerleman, Central Lyon, 47-44–91
Sidney Tritz, Remsen St. Mary’s, 44-50–94
Jaina Groen, Central Lyon, 46-49–95
Amelia Schneidermann, Central Lyon, 46-51–97
Samantha Wilbur, South O’Brien, 52-46–98
Abby Thompson, Kingsley-Pierson, 51-48–99