Miscues, nerves cost local golfers on big stage

YORK — Ben Ortwein stood on the sixth tee during Monday’s PIAA Class 2 A golf championships with one prevailing thought:

“Don’t go left,” the Notre Dame-GPjunior said.

Ortwein hit it left.

That one swing turned a round with a lot of potential into another learning experience.

Two pitch-outs and a three-putt led to a quadruple bogey, and the District 11 champion finished his season with a tie for 23rd place with a 10-over-par 81 at Heritage Hills Golf Resort.

“That was one of only two times all day that I missed the fairway,” said O rt we in, who missed right on No. 10. “I was happy with how I played, but it is what it is.”

One swing (on No. 17) also got Moravian Academy’s Joe Smith, who finished tied for 32nd with an 84.

Meanwhile, nerves early on the putting green got the best of

Central Catholic’s Nathan Myers (tied for 32nd).

And there were a lot of putts that kept Moravian Academy’s Grace Sanborn from perhaps a top-3 finish.

“Honestly, my game today was great, except my putting,” the senior said. “The pin position was rough on 6. I probably had a 30- foot birdie putt and five-put ted.

“I think I had a five-putt, a fourputt and three three-putts. If that doesn’t happen, it’s a really good round.”

Boys

North East’s Isaiah Swan beat Scranton Prep’ s Matthew Tressler on the first playoff hole for the championship after Tressler three-putted his last hole for bogey in regulation. The duo shot 2-under-par 69s.

Ortwein started with consecutive birdies on Nos .1 and 2 and was 1-under-par entering the short, part-4 sixth.

“I took an 8 without losing a ball,” Ortwein said. “That was tough to take. That’s golf. That’s why you keep coming back. You keep trying.”

He bogeyed Nos. 8 and 9 to go out in 41, then hit his tee shot right on the par-4 10th.

His ball landed just in front of a root.

Two attempted pitch-outs advanced the ball just a few feet each time before the Crusader took a penalty drop.

That triple bogey took him out of contention.

Smith’s one fateful swing came on the tee at the par-4 17th. He hit his 3-wood into the water, then had a 4-iron into the green after a drop. He went long before he found more trouble.

“I hit driver in the practice round sand went through the fairway, so I hit 3- wood ,” the Lions sophomore said. “I hit it in the water, then was thinking that I’ve got to make some strokes up now, so I hit 4-iron into the green and I get a tuck lie with no grass underneath it.

“I chipped on and then the putting wasn’t too good, either,” he said. “It was a pretty bad hole.”

Smith was 1-over-par through his first seven holes before No. 17, where he took a 9. Hethen tripled the 18th. He birdied the par-4 fourth during a 4-over 40 on the front to finish his high school career.

Myers will have another shot at a satisfactory finish after the lesson learned during his practice round.

The Vikings junior, who never played the course before Sunday, said his preparation will not be the same in 2021.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning,” hesaid. “Once I settled in, I was OK. I think I need to be a little more prepared. I sort of just came out Sunday and played golf. I should have looked at the course a little bit more.

“I should have studied the greens a little more and just take more practice shots on the course. I think it would have helped me on the course.”

Myers bogeyed four of his first five holes.

Girls

Sanborn, who was in in her third PIAA tournament, showed Myers that experienced golfers still have problems with the speed of the greens.

She parred her first five holes before the five-putt on No. 6. Fittingly, she three-putted No. 18 to finish her high school career.

“I’m super proud of how I played,” Sanborn said. “I couldn’t really gauge how much it was going to break for how fast the greens were. My speed was just off the whole day. I was either way too short or way too long. I made a couple of 6-foot putts, but other than that, I know what went wrong today.”

Sanborn ended her career as a three-time Colonial League and two-time District 11 champion, with three top-18 finishes at states.

Rockwood’s Vileska Gelpi won the girls title with a 2-over-par 74.