Moravian Academy’s Emma Xu promised coach Geri Higgins that she would not check her phone during Monday’s Colonial League Golf Championships at Bethlehem Golf Club, but the sophomore could not help herself.
That’s where Xu saw messages from her friends that she was leading the tournament since the second hole.
It was inevitable because her playing partners let her know it, too, throughout the four-hour round.
Xu thought she knew something else: She was going to lose the lead to teammate and returning runner-up Mara Dubacher.
“The girls I was playing with, they were like, ‘You’re in first, you’re in first,'” Xu said. “I went double-double [bogey] on 16 and 17, so I was stressed, and I knew Mara was right behind me.
“So, I was like, ‘You might as well give [the title] to her. I’m not going to pull this one out.'”
Nursing a one-shot lead, Xu hooked her drive left on the par-4 18th hole. She reached the front edge of the green in three and faced a 20-foot par putt.
Xu surprised herself by draining the putt to capture the title with an 82, one better than Dubacher.
“My putts were pretty good today,” Xu said.
Dubacher finished second in last year’s league tournament in a playoff.
Southern Lehigh’s Colin Sarnoski shot 80 to hold off teammate David Tervalon by a shot to win the boys’ title. Southern Lehigh beat Moravian Academy by 18 shots for the team title.
Xu parred Nos. 14 and 15 to take a three-shot lead before poor drives, a shanked wedge and a bad chip led to consecutive double bogeys to fall back into a tie with one hole left.
The pressure of knowing she was winning led to poor swing thoughts.
“My friends were texting me saying, ‘You got this,'” Xu said. “I didn’t want to let them down.”
Eventually, Xu did not let anyone down.
Sarnoski did not battle nerves and poor swings off the tee to capture his first postseason crown. He said a lot of hard work this summer and fall with his driver finally paid off Monday.
After bad bounces led to consecutive bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3, Sarnoski strung together five consecutive pars to take the lead for good.
He led by two shots until a bogey at No. 13, then he and Tervalon matched scores the last five holes.
“I stayed pretty steady throughout,” Sarnoski said. “I checked after nine that I had the lead. After that, I tried to stay within myself, not do anything too crazy. Just me and the course out there.
“I had been struggling off the tee with my driver, but this week it just started to click. I felt really confident with my driver all day. I put a lot of work in this fall on my short game. That paid off today. I had some crazy up-and-downs on the front side.”
Trouble with the 2
There were more golfers (3) who needed at least 10 shots on the par-5 second hole than those who birdied the hole (2). It was representative of the course playing longer because of the rain and soft conditions.
There were only two birdies all day by the girls (Salisbury’s Ava Smarch on No. 4 and Southern Lehigh’s Alexis Miller on No. 16). The 48 boys combined for 14 birdies. Southern Lehigh’s Talan Canzano was the only one who carded two birdies (Nos. 14-15). The top 10 finishers totaled just four birdies.
EPC Championships
Stroudsburg’s Hunter Probst shot an even-par 72 to win the EPC title by two shots over Northampton’s Gavin Pychinka on Monday at Olde Homestead Golf Club in New Tripoli. Liberty’s Jase Barker was third with a 75. Parkland’s Landen Benner (76) and Pocono Mountain East’s Evan Murphy (77) rounded out the top five.
Regular-season champion Northampton (317) beat Nazareth (328) and Parkland (328) for the team title.
Nazareth’s Camryn Hoff, the returning District 11 Class 3A champion, won the EPC girls title with an 85, three shots better than Parkland’s Chloe Chase.
Up next
The District 11 qualifier is Sept. 26 at 8:30 a.m. at Olde Homestead Golf Club.
The District 11 Golf Championships are Oct. 3, starting at 8:30 at Steel Club in Hellertown.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
Colonial League Golf Championships
Monday at Bethlehem Golf Club
Boys
- Colin Sarnoski, Southern Lehigh: 80*
- David Tervalon, Southern Lehigh: 81*
- Erik Mather, Northwestern: 82*
- Caleb Walsh, Southern Lehigh: 82*
- Ethan Koslowski, Northwestern: 83*
- Simon Weed, Notre Dame-GP: 84
- Collin Schreiber, Moravian Academy: 84
- Logan DeRewal, Southern Lehigh: 85
- David Burmeister, Southern Lehigh: 85
- William Maynard, Saucon Valley: 88
- Frank Boensch, Southern Lehigh: 88
- Ford Koch, Moravian Academy: 88
- Talan Canzano, Southern Lehigh: 89
- Blake Kornafel, Bangor: 89
- Stone Sosnovik, Northwestern: 89
- Joey DosSantos, Pen Argyl: 89
- Joe Altmire, Notre Dame-GP: 89
- Owen Fogel, Salisbury: 89
- Jared Reinhard, Palmerton: 90
- Jake Martini, Pen Argyl: 90
- Lincoln Kuster, Pen Argyl: 91
- Shane Moser, Pen Argyl: 91
- Cole Dynda, Northwestern: 91
- Jeffrey Holzbaur, Saucon Valley: 92
- Aiden Leister, Palmerton: 92
- Beau Thomas, Bangor: 93
- Luke Hackman, Pen Argyl: 93
- Caiden Fleckenstein, Southern Lehigh: 93
- Thomas Ubriaco, Saucon Valley: 93
- Tyler Scheer, Bangor: 93
- Nate Mette, Moravian Academy: 94
- Ashton Lesher, Palmerton: 94
- Wyatt Adams, Southern Lehigh: 95
- Cormac McKenna, Moravian Academy: 95
- Jared Grammes, Palmerton: 96
- Cade Robbins, Southern Lehigh: 96
- Josh Holler, Salisbury: 96
- Liam Gilligan, Notre Dame-GP: 97
- Tyler Balok, Bangor: 100
- Jake Zellin, Salisbury: 101
- Andrew Lessig, Notre Dame-GP: 101
- Connor Simms, Northern Lehigh: 102
- Matt Delaney, Notre Dame-GP: 103
- Michael Wachter, Notre Dame-GP: 110
- Alexander Kehm, Notre Dame-GP: 111
- Caden Monahan, Northwestern: 113
- Ryan Broscius, Notre Dame-GP: 119
- Andrew Sagrestano, Wilson: 138
*Top five automatically qualify for the District 11 tournament
Girls
- Emma Xu, Moravian Academy: 82*
- Mara Dubacher, Moravian Academy: 83*
- Avery Martin, Southern Lehigh: 88
- Avri Chandler, Northwestern: 93
- Alexis Miller, Southern Lehigh: 95
- Addison Remaley, Northwestern: 97
- Madeline Hagens, Southern Lehigh: 98
- Ava Smarch, Salisbury: 99
- Gracie Scheffler, Northwestern: 100
- Sophia Bandi, Wilson: 111
- Guiliana Cirocco, Southern Lehigh: 124
*Top two automatically qualify for the District 11 tournament
EPC Championships
Monday at Olde Homestead GC, New Tripoli
Boys
- Hunter Probst, Stroudsburg: 72
- Gavin Pychinka, Northampton: 74
- Jase Barker, Liberty: 75
- Landen Benner, Parkland: 76
- Evan Murphy, Pocono Mountain East: 77
- Noah Schurman, Emmaus: 78
- Zach Miller, Nazareth: 79
- Jayden Bleiler, Northampton: 80
- Lewis Ronca, Nazareth: 80
- Matt Ronca, Liberty: 80
- Louie Pagano, Freedom: 80
- A.J. Sundstrom, Parkland: 80
- Ralston Rowlands, Bethlehem Catholic: 81
- Kyan DeLong, Emmaus: 81
- Kohler Strohl, Northampton: 81
- Zach Yenawin, Emmaus: 82
- Tyler Matute-Keiper, Northampton: 82
- Lydon Patascher, Pleasant Valley: 82
- Trent Moyer, Northampton: 83
- Radek Remaley, Nazareth: 84
- Justin Edwards, Northampton: 84
- Michael Seidick, Northampton: 84
- Mujtaba Jaffer, Parkland: 84
- Matt Long, Central Catholic: 85
- Nick Hoffman, Freedom: 85
- Luke Ronca, Nazareth: 85
- Jeff Snyder, Pocono Mountain East: 85
- Matt Rader, Central Catholic: 87
- Evan Walters, Emmaus: 88
- Jaxon Forgione, Nazareth: 88
- George Pavis, Bethlehem Catholic: 89
- Brady Rohn, Nazareth: 89
- Paul Erfle, Liberty: 90
- Evan Martz, Pocono Mountain East: 91
- Derek Ostrosky, Bethlehem Catholic: 92
- Mason Stiff, Pocono Mountain East: 92
- Chase Murphy, Pocono Mountain East: 92
- Ben Bush, Pleasant Valley: 92
- Nolan Harriman, Freedom: 93
- Charlie Gold, Parkland: 93
- Eric Gerger, Freedom: 94
- Adam Unangst, Liberty: 94
- Andrew Kleist, Emmaus: 95
- Trent Stahley, Liberty: 96
- Joey Fantozzi, Stroudsburg: 97
- Dhruv Patel, Freedom: 98
- Nate Zauck, Stroudsburg: 98
- Zak Novak, Nazareth: 100
- Ryan Kaulfers, Pocono Mountain West: 101
- Colin Wrazien, Stroudsburg: 105
- Paulie Maccarrone, Stroudsburg: 108
*Top five automatically qualify for the District 11 tournament
Girls
- Camryn Hoff, Nazareth: 85*
- Chloe Chase, Parkland: 88*
- Allie Tarreto, Nazareth: 90
- Ashlyn McCormick, Pocono Mountain West: 93
- Maya Schutz, Emmaus: 94Shayla Ames, Freedom: 99
- Madeline Van Buskirk, Pocono Mountain East: 115
*Top two automatically qualify for the District 11 tournament
