American Heritage girls win 7th title
Bourdage captures individual crown after finishing even par
American Heritage’s Jillian Bourdage won her first state title and helped the Patriots dethrone twotime defending state champion and local rival Archbishop McCarthy for the Class 2A state golf title at Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-theHills.
Bourdage, a sophomore, set the pace on Monday as the only female under par with a 2-under-par 70 to give American Heritage a 12-shot lead at 304 over the Mavericks. She followed that up with a 2-over, 74 to finish with a 144 total and edged Eustis senior Julia Towne and Leesburg senior Alyssa Lamoureux, who both finished tied for second with a 145 total.
“It is super exciting,” said Bourdage, who sank a 5-foot par putt on the Par 5, 408-yard 18th hole to seal the win. “It was super quiet and when I hit the putt in, all of my teammates stormed the green and were cheering. I didn’t know what my standing was going into the second round, but I knew something good must have happened. When they told me I won, I was shocked and so happy.”
The Patriots followed up their opening-round 304 with a 10-over par 298 to win by 22 strokes over Archbishop McCarthy. The Mavericks fired a closing day 308, but it wasn’t enough. American Heritage is the winningest girls team in the state with seven championships. It’s their first title since 2014.
“It is a big exhale, I am so proud of the girls,” said American Heritage girls coach Linda Sibio by phone. “They came out yesterday and played great and just maintained it today. I just told them to go out and play the way we played all year and don’t give away two strokes to get one.”
Freshman Casey Weidenfeld, who on Monday took a four-shot penalty for having an extra club in her bag en route to a 76, rebounded on Wednesday with a 2-under 70, to finish in a tie for fourth with a 146.
Archbishop McCarthy senior Casey Sommer shot 79-74-153 to place ninth lead the Mavericks, while sophomore Taylor Roberts, who finished third in the Class 3A tournament at the same course last year, was tied for 10th with a two-day total of 154 (79-75).
American Heritage’s boys carded a two-day total of 628 (306-322) to finish in a tie for second with Bishop Moore (Orlando), however the Patriots number five golfer, sophomore Leo Herrera, fired a 165 to edge Bishop Moore’s sophomore Brad Hull by three shots to give them the tiebreaker and the runner-up spot for the defending state champ. Ponte Vedra shot 301-312 to win its state-best seventh boys’ championship by 15 shots.
FSU commit Alberto Martinez capped off his senior year for American Heritage with a 74-75-149 to place fourth. Ponte Vedra sophomore Stuart Slayton, who fired a first round 69, but stumbled to a 77 Wednesday, hung on to win the individual title.
Pompano Beach High junior Thomas Christensen tied for 11th with a 155 (80-75), while Archbishop McCarthy’s boys also finished 11th in the team standings with a two-day total of 707.