Teen wins Ulster women’s tournament
At 13, Pennington becomes youngest to win women’s tourney
Amber Pennington made history Sunday when she became the youngest player to win the Ulster County Women’s Golf Association championship,
The soon-to-be Rondout Valley High freshman shot a 6-over 77 on her home Rondout Golf Club course to finish the 54-hole event with an 8475-77—236, winning by nine strokes.
At age 13, she is the youngest champion by two years. Nancy Kolln had been the youngest winner until Sunday when she captured the first of her three titles back in 1970 as a 15-year-old.
“It warms my heart,” said Pennington about the unique honor.
Becky Fall had her best showing ever in the UCWGA tournament, placing second with an 84-81-80—245. Ellen Densen was third with an 8183-83—247.
Kim Hines shot the day’s low with a 75 to finish fourth with 248. Diane Myers carded a 77 to take fifth (255).
Pennington had shot a 75 at Mohonk on Saturday, including a 33 on the front nine (“The first time I had broken par on a nine”) and followed that with a steady
performance at Rondout.
She parred 10 of the first 13 holes. She narrowly missed a long birdie putt on 5 and used a great chip push from an enbankment to save par on 7.
“The first nine was good for me. I definitely started to struggle on the back. My swing was just not with me,” she said.
Pennington bogied 10, parred the next three holes, then got her only birdie with a 10-foot putt on 14. Unfortunately, that was followed by her only real glitch of the day with double bogeys on 15 and 16.
“That’s what I call ‘Birdie Tax,’” remarked Pennington, who was able to par out the final two holes.
“It would have been great to keep it going but, you know, golf happens.”
Pennington had shot a career-low 74 at Rondout last weekend. That’s when she defeated her father for the first time.
“I lost and it was my proudest day,” said Martin Pennington, who was caddying for her daughter. Amber was his caddy during last month’s Ulster County Men’s Amateur (Herdegen) Tournament.
“He was definitely very proud and I was, too,” Amber said. “He knows my game just as well as I do, and he’s always trying to help me and that’s definitely the important part,” she said. “Even when he’s not caddying, in life, he’s always trying to help me and I cannot thank him enough for that.”
Added Fall, “It was such a treat to watch her work her way around the golf course. She’s a nice young lady and her golf game is really amazing. She’s going to go places with that.”
Pennington has a tremendous swing and is still putting her game together.
“I don’t think I had a strength. Really, the only thing was keeping positive, just playing my game even when it didn’t work out and try to come back,” she said.
“I’ve played in a lot of tournaments throughout the past couple of years, so the pressure doesn’t get to me as much,” she added. “I don’t really have any more pressure, because I know that, if I play my game, I’ll usually do reasonably well. I just do the best that I can.”
Fall, who coached many sports at Wallkill High, received a set of clubs when
she retired nine years ago. She took up the game and fell in love with the sport.
“It’s a long way to go and I came a long way, too,” she said, referring to herself as one of the new old players. Fall has competed in the tournament for several years. She placed seventh last year.
“It was about keeping the ball on the fairway, keeping my focus and staying calm,” said Fall, who had 10 pars.
“I played good enough to take second, and I’m very proud of myself. It feels really good,” she said. “It’s just amazing. It’s a dream.”
Two-time champion Densen had a birdie on 17, but could never make up any ground on Pennington.
Marianne Albamont was the A Flight titlist, winning by nine strokes over Gabriella Budd. Linda Williams placed third.
Budd, who just graduated from Ellenville High, received the $1,000 Paul DeLisio Memorial/UCWGA Scholarship at the awards dinner.
“I’m just really excited to have Amber and Gabriella playing this year, because we need that youth to come in and support the tournament,” said Myers, the UCWGA President.
“We’re getting more youth into these tournaments, and I feel that that’s very important for this area,” Pennington noted. “I think that, if the girls have a passion, I feel that they should go. They could do the Mid-Hudson Junior tour or do little things. It’s just about getting the golf community to grow as a whole. That’s what I believe.”
Added Myers, “I like to see more of the high school girls come into this tournament and play. They don’t necessarily have to be a high school golfer, just a girl who wants to come in and play some golf. We’re more than welcome to have them in the tournament. We run indoor clinics in February and March over at the MAC Gym, so that they can brush up on their short game and do full-swing.”
Interested players should visit www.ucwga. org for more information and to download applications for the clinics.
Unless there are any conflicting state junior events going on, Pennington plans on defending her title in 2017.
“If my schedule is open, I’m coming back!” she said.