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Janangelo's
Hard Charge puts her on top at Betsy Rawls
In-Bee Park stumbles, opens door for Janangelo
in final round |
Two
resilient young players went head-to-head as defending champion
Elizabeth Janangelo of West Hartford, Conn., and U.S. Girls
Junior champion In-Bee Park of Eustis, Fla., battled for the
AJGA McDonald's Betsy Rawls Girls National Championship crown.
The 18-year-old Janangelo fired a 3-under-par 68 to come back
from a seven-stroke deficit and capture the title again in dramatic
fashion.
Janangelo's
win at Betsy Rawls is her first of the season after
winning five in 2001 on her way to becoming the
girls Polo Golf Junior Player of the Year. |
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Conducted
by the American Junior Golf Association, the McDonald's Betsy
Rawls Girls National Championship featured 62 girls, representing
26 states and Mexico and was held on the par-71, 6,017-yard
DuPont Course at the DuPont Country Club.
Everything started to click for Janangelo in the final round
as she was hitting greens and the putts were falling.
"I
had a good feeling when I made the turn," Janangelo said.
"I had a couple of birdies and just tried to plug along."
The win came as a big surprise for Janangelo as the Connecticut
native was only hoping for the best - a second-place finish.
"I
really did not expect to be in this position," Janangelo
said. "My goal coming into today was to finish in second."
After the tournament, Janangelo showed some classy sportsmanship
as she approached Park to shake her hand and give the 14-year-old
words of encouragement.
In-Bee
Park has two national victories this year at the
AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and the U.S.
Junior but came up just short at Betsy Rawls. |
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"In-Bee
is so young and has so many tournaments ahead of her,"
Janangelo said. "I think experience has a lot to do with
it and how you close the match. She will gain that experience
one day."
Janangelo ends her regular AJGA season with another major title
as she heads to college to play for the Duke Blue Devils this
fall.
"This
has always been a fun tournament for me," Janangelo said.
"The atmosphere is wonderful and the volunteers are great.
That's what makes this tournament different from the others."
After
posting under-par scores in the first two rounds, the 14-year-old
Park struggled in the final round and carded four bogeys and
two double bogeys on the day. The Florida native gave up a five-stroke
lead to finish in second with a 71-67-79-217 total.
"I don't know what happened today," Park said. "I
tried to play my best but everything went wrong."
Last year's runner-up Brittany Lang of McKinney, Texas, finished
in third after carding a 72 in the final round for a 69-78-72-219
total. May Wood (76-72-72) of Signal Mountain, Tenn., and Whitney
Wade (73-74-73) of Glasgow, Ky., carded a three-round total
of 220 to tie for fourth and round out the top five. |
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