Betsy King hosting pro-am with LPGA players
The event will be held June 5 at Moselem Springs Golf Club and benefit King’s charity, Golf Fore Africa
Betsy King is bringing the LPGA back to Berks County for a pro-am in June.
King, the Berks native and World Golf Hall of Famer, is hosting the event to benefit her charity, Golf Fore Africa, on June 5 at Moselem Springs Golf Club, she has announced.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said King, whose charity raises money to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in sub-Saharan Africa.
Juli Inkster, who has 31 LPGA victories, including seven majors, headlines the list of players committed to attend.
Also scheduled to participate are Brittany Lang, who won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2016; Brittany Lincicome, who has eight career LPGA victories; Michelle McGann, seven LPGA wins; Angela Stanford, seven LPGA wins; Leta Lindley, Aza Munoz, Pernilla Lindberg and Paula Reto, each with one LPGA win; Jill McGill, the reigning champ in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open; and Amy Olson, Sarah Kemp, Gina Kim, Lauren Hartiage and Caroline Inglis.
The impetus for the event was Wilson golf junior Kayla Maletto, a two-time Berks Player of the Year and threetime All-Berks selection, King said.
“I played golf with her several years ago,” said the 67-year-old King, “then she had done a little bit with Golf Fore Africa. She approached me about maybe trying to do something to fundraise. And we originally were going to just fundraise for a well, but she practices and plays at Moselem. And so we approached Moselem and now it’s grown into an event.
“We hope to make about $150,000 from the day; I don’t know if we’ll quite get there or not, but it’s certainly a lot more than $15,000 that we started out with.”
The event will begin with breakfast, registration and driving range availability at 7:30 a.m., with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
King said amateurs will get a chance to play with two pros, spending nine holes with each.
There will be limited space for fans, King said, which will go to honor board sponsors.
For more information on sponsorships and opportunities to play, go to www.golfforeafrica.org.
King said she doesn’t plan to play, preferring to be more of a “safety valve” to step in, in case one of the other players is unable to play, but does plan to ride around and say hello to all the groups.
King, a six-time major champion, founded Golf Fore Africa in 2007. It has raised $16 million and partnered with World Vision for clean water projects.
“We’ve had just about our three best years the last three years,” King said. “We’ve given them (World Vision) over $2 million a year and we’ve done water in 450 villages, about 75 mechanized systems at schools and health clinics. We’re continuing moving forward.”
King said she is hoping to fund two mechanized water systems and two handpump wells through the money raised at the Berks event. According to a press release, that would bring clean water to 3,000 people.
“I think a few years ago it was about 1,000 children a day died from (using non-clean) drinking water,” King said. “Now that number is down to about 800. So there is improvement. And in 2000, there were about 2 billion people living in the world that lack access to clean water — that just means having a clean water source within a 15-minute walk — now that number is around 740 million.”
aheller@readingeagle.com
After falling to Twin Valley’s Dylan Bonds last week for his first loss of the season, Exeter’s Teddy Snyder was extra motivated to face Bonds in the BCIAA Flight 1 boys tennis singles final Monday at Laureldale.
“It was more motivating because I lost to him the first time,” said Snyder, the defending champ. “It helped last year, too, when I lost to (then-defending champ) Zach (Schrader of Reading High) earlier in the year.”
Snyder once again learned from his previous defeat as he bested Bonds 6-3, 6-4 to claim his second straight Flight 1 title. Snyder, a senior, said he was proud to end the individual BCIAA season on a high point and is hopeful to make a deeper run in the postseason at the individual and team levels.
“I feel good,” Snyder said. “I went through a lot of ups and downs this season. I feel like I had a good record; I only had lost one match this season to him. So it was it was a good year. I’m happy I can end on a good note in the county at least.
“I’m hoping our team can win the county (title) this year, too. And hopefully I do better in districts this year, but I’m happy.”
Last Monday, Bonds defeated Snyder 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a team match that the Eagles won 6-1. Heading into this Monday’s championship matchup, Snyder knew what he had to get the upper hand on Bonds.
“He’s a great player,” Snyder said. “Every game was close in both matches. I knew I had to keep him like moving; I tried to hit better angles. Last match, it was windy so I kind of hit more in the middle of the court. But he’s really good from middle of the court, so I tried to keep it on the sides as much as possible.”
Bonds had the advantage on Snyder early in the first set as the Raiders’ senior took a 3-1 lead and won the opening point. However, Snyder stormed back to win five points in a row to claim the first set thanks to sound shot selection, a clear head and aggression at the net.
“I started out slow down 1-3, but I won five straight somehow,” Snyder said. “That’s the thing about tennis, it’s just one point at a time. You just have to forget what the score is sometimes and keep playing hard. It’s either a hot start or a slow start sometimes.
“I’ve been struggling with my volleys all year. All year I’ve been trying to like put it away from like a short forehand or backhand. I know I need to get to the net.”
Snyder, a member of the Exeter boys basketball team that reached last month’s PIAA Class 5A final and won the District 3 championship, said he believed his experience during that run helped as it taught him to have a persistent drive.
“Our (basketball) coach (Matt Ashcroft) taught us to never be satisfied,” Snyder said. “I feel like that helped a lot. Our mentality helped a lot during the basketball season and in tennis it’s the same type of thing.”
Snyder returns to the tennis court on Tuesday for the semifinal round of the doubles tournament, which starts at 4 p.m. at Muhlenberg, where he and Jake Tryanski will face Wyomissing’s Truman Peters and Maxwell Herr
In the Flight 2 singles final, Daniel Boone’s Evan Miller defeated Reading High’s Joel Rodriguez 6-4, 6-2 to win his second straight title. Miller defeated Carson Kane of Twin Valley 6-4, 6-1 in last year’s Flight 2 championship match.
In the Flight 3 final, Conrad Weiser’s Eric Yazemboskl defeated Wyomissing’s Noah Gibney 6-0, 6-3.
In the Flight 4 final, Conrad Weiser’s Reed Kopcik defeated Wilson’s Gavin Siravo 6-4, 6-4. Last season, Kopcik bested Owen Blume of Daniel Boone 6-2, 6-3 in the Flight 5 final.
In the Flight 5 final, Wilson’s Jason Kaufmann beat Kutztown’s Grayson Ebner 7-5, 6-0.