Parker wins by 15 strokes
Toolbox
By TOM HALEY Rutland Herald STAFF - Published: July 24, 2009
BRANDON — There's no way Ekwanok's Reggie Parker was thinking the four-stroke cushion she took into the second and final day of the Ruth Raymond Jones Memorial Senior Tournament was a safe thing. She knows the Steve Durkee-designed layout at Neshobe Golf Club is one where golfers can gain ground in a hurry. Give away shots and somebody will be there to make them up.
But Parker did not let that happen on Thursday. Every club she played had magic in it. She followed up Wednesday's 76 with a 72 to win going away. Her two-day score of 148 was 15 better than second-place finisher Suzy Bremner of Rocky Ridge.
"I was happy with all of my game today," Parker said. "I didn't miss my tee shots."
Indeed, she was only in the rough off the tee once all day.
"I was hitting my shots where I wanted them to go, which is critical on this course," she said. "If you don't, you will be hitting out of some deep rough and onto some very small greens."
But when the day began, she was very much concerned about Bremner and the rest of the field.
"It is the kind of course where you can score and if you give up some shots, others can make them up. It's a short course and nobody is out of it," she said.
But she wasn't giving anyone a window to climb into contention. Her whole game, tee to green, was marvelous.
"I was very pleased with my approach to the greens," Parker said.
She contrasted that to the previous day where she felt she came up long far too many times, despite fashioning her four-stroke advantage.
Bremner knew she was up against a talented player at the top of the leader board, but she played the course, not an opponent.
'I don't really change anything (despite the deficit)," Bremner said. "I just play my own game and try to enjoy the day and the foursome.
"I don't grind or try to do anything I am not capable of doing."
Bremner made three birdies Wednesday to help her to her 80, but fell to 83 on this day.
Mary Corey of Cedar Knoll was third at 166, followed by Shari Pfannenstein of Killington at 172, Pam Engel of Dorset at 173, Deborah Fletcher of Enosburg Falls at 173, Maureen Quinn of Lake St. Catherine, Virginia Vogel of Crown Point and Nancy Gorham-LaSante of St. Johnsbury at 174, and Dorothy Cleary of Mount Anthony at 175.
The shot of the day? Moretown's Stephanie Venema, who plays out of the Montpelier Elks Club, aced the 17th hole. She has been playing 33 years and this was her first hole-in-one.
She pulled her tee shot left on the same hole Wednesday so she compensated and her Cobra 9-iron did the rest.
When she found out her ball landed in the hole, she was pretty excited.
"I screamed," Venema said.
It's been quite a run for Parker. She did not play this tournament last year but won her second Mid-Amateur in Enosburg by five strokes. She will go to Haystack in Wilmington in September and attempt to defend that Mid-Am crown. Her other big Vermont event will be the Women's Amateur coming up in Burlington.
It has been quite awhile since she played Burlington Country Club, so shewill get a practice round in there soon.
"Haystack I do really enjoy," she said.
She knows at the Mid-Am, and especially at the Women's Amateur, she will be up against younger players who hit longer off the tee.
"They have the modern power game," Parker said. "Someone like Molly Aronsson hits it farther than I can see. I will have to use senior wile."
On this day, that was much more than enough.
Notes: Neshobe head pro Rodney Bicknell has some marquee events headed to his course. The Women's State Amateur stops here in 2010, the Women's Mid-Am in 2011 and the State Men's Amateur in 2011. … Bicknell played in the 1973 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, representing Middlebury, and helped Vermont to a 22-21 comeback victory over New Hampshire in the high school all-star football game. … Bremner is the daughter of the late Dave Bremner, the legendary high school boys soccer coach who led dynasties at Hinesburg and then CVU. Bremner coached the 1970 CVU team that lost to Proctor for the right to go to the first New England Tournament. … The Rutland team of Kathy Domenicucci, Diane Ewald, Bonnie Heald, Edith Hiller, Pat Job and Ginny Thompson won the Pat Job Cup with a score of 470. Brattleboro was next at 473 and Crown Point third at 474.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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