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It wasn't a golden round,
but it was good enough for Kirkpatrick
Girls Slideshows, Gallery 1, Gallery 2
Kelsey Kirkpatrick complained about her mid-irons, but she hit enough good shots to win the girls championship by five shots.
Chelsea Mocio holds her runner-up trophy. |
When Kelsey Kirkpatrick of Golden, Tx., finished Thursday (July 19) as the champion of the Fort Worth Girls City Junior Golf Championship, she had mixed feelings. She wasn't happy about her round, but she was happy about winning with her five-over 54-hole 221 total.
``It wasn't as good as I wanted,'' she said after a closing 7-over 78 at Shady Oaks Country Club to win by five shots over Chelsea Mocio. ``I had some bad putts. I had some bad chips. I wasn't playing any good today. I think I had five birdies, and that's pretty bad with a 78. My mid-irons on the front nine (weren't very good). Then on the back nine, whenever I had a chip, I couldn't seem to get it close to the hole.'''
Yet, she never felt as if the tournament was slipping away. ``Well, I didn't know about the girl playing ahead of me, but I thought I was doing pretty good.''
Her playing partner was 15-year-old Mocio, who had been tied with Maury Shock and Carla Cooper for second, four shots behind, heading into the final round. However, Cooper didn't play because of a conflict with college orientation and Shock fell out of contention and finished with an 88. Mocio applied some early pressure by pulling within two shots after Kirkpatrick triple-bogeyed her second hole, but couldn't keep the pace and finished with a 79 to take second.
``I tried playing one shot at a time and tried to regain strokes. But I gave away too many strokes,'' Mocio said.
``I was doing pretty good on the front nine, but didn't on the back,'' she said. ``I bogeyed a few holes coming in. The last two days were disappointing.''
Mocio had tied Kirkpatrick for the lead after a first-round 69 at Rockwood, but slipped to a 78 at Meadowbrook while Kirkpatrick shot a 74.
Kirkpatrick said the turning point in the final round, at least for her, was after her triple-bogey. She has been battling the mental aspect of the game, and negative thoughts had raised their ugly heads after she had four-putted to finish the hole. But three holes later, she blasted out of a sand trap into the hole for a birdie.
``It boosted my confidence, that's for sure,'' she said. ``I was still thinking about (the triple-bogey), but after that birdie, it flew out.''
Kirkpatrick, who was using the tournament to get accustomed to playing three-day tournaments, said it's up to her dad whether she will return next year. ``He schedules everything. It's a good tournament, so it's a possibility. I wish I could have come in with a better score today, but I won and it feels good.''
Defending champion Prisela Campbell, who's going to TCU, said her putting, which normally is her strong suit, never came around this week and she finished in sixth place with an 84.
``It's really a big disappointment,'' Campbell said of her failing to win again. ``I'm upset. Today, I started playing stupid. I was misclubbing and had some three-putts. On the back nine, I shot a lot better. I shot a 2-over.''