The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Westport’s Sarrazin captures State Women’s Amateur
HARWINTON — Sophia Sarrazin went more than five months in between playing a competitive golf tournament this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the time lost was her first season with the Hamden Hall Country Day boys golf team — yes, that’s right, the boys team. Among her teammates is Ben James, the 2019 Connecticut Junior Amateur champion who finished third in the Connecticut Open a year ago.
“It was so frustrating (not having a season),” Sarrazin said. “The main reason I went there (transferring from Staples High School) was to play on a more competitive golf team, be more challenged, play longer distances, get used to people shooting lower scores and I was able to travel more. It was so unfortunate to not have (a) season. We had a great team. There is always next year, I guess.”
Sarrazin returned to competition last month and already looks to be rounding into form. The 15 year old birdied three of her first six holes at Fairview Farm Golf Course Thursday and never looked back, winning the 55th Connecticut Women’s Amateur by four shots.
“The goal was to shoot good scores, play confident golf,” said Sarrazin, a Westport resident. “I wanted to play rounds I was happy with and finish in a good position, whether that meant winning or finishing in fifth place.”
Sarrazin, 15, was playing in the Connecticut Women’s Amateur for the first time. The left-hander, a member at The Patterson Club in Fairfield, shot a 1-under-par 71 to finish with a tworound total of 1-over 145.
She will be the defending girls champion at the 51st Borck Junior, beginning Monday at The Country Club of New Canaan.
Sarrazin and Jen Holland trailed first-round leader Mia Grzywinski by one stroke heading into Thursday’s final round. Grzywinski, a rising sophomore for the Quinnipiac University women’s golf team, made three bogeys and a triplebogey on the front nine to fall out of contention.
Grzywinski shot an 80 and finished at 9-over-par 153, tying for third place, 9 shots behind Sarrazin.
Those three birdies gave Sarrazin a 3-shot cushion over Holland through nine holes.
“I was thinking, ‘Play to win, don’t play scared, don’t try to tap the putt.’ I wanted to make the putt play aggressively. That’s how I play my best golf,” Sarrazin said.
Holland, the 2008 champion, had finished in the top 10 each of the past seven years, normally doing so against teenagers like Sarrazin and Grzywinski, who were playing in the same group as Holland.
“I love it. It’s absolutely fantastic, since I play 3 months out of the year and they probably play 10 months out of the year,” said Holland, a 56-year-old elementary school teacher and Guilford resident. “I’m happy to be competitive.”
Holland got within 2 when Sarrazin bogeyed 10, but Sarrazin bounced back with a birdie at 11. Mistakes at 14 and 16 cost Holland a chance to put some pressure on Sarrazin down the stretch. She finished at 5-over 149.
“Mia had the same (par) putt (on 14). I don’t know why I couldn’t knock it in from 4 feet, but that really hurt,” Holland said. “It (her game) wasn’t stellar. Too many blunders.”
Sarrazin was able to survive a bogey on 15 — she hit her tee shot into the water — thanks to pars on the final three holes.
“I didn’t want to play (down the stretch) like I had already won. I wanted play like I was still trying to win. Anything can happen on the last three holes. At the (very) end, I was like, ‘I can relax now,’” Sarrazin said. “I realize this is a pretty big tournament with a lot of amazing players. It’s superexciting.”
Defending champion Megan Mitchell (Oronoque CC), who helped New Canaan High win three consecutive girls golf team championships, finished in a four-way tie for fifth place at 15-over 159.