By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
It is safe to assume matching rounds of 93 is not what Waterford’s Breanna Bertschinger envisioned for her experience at the WIAA Division 1 Girls’ Golf State Championship Monday and Tuesday at University Ridge in Madison.
Bertschinger finished with a two-day score of 186 strokes, good for a tie for 48th overall. The field numbered 78 golfers.
Middleton’s Loren Skibba won the Division 1 individual title with a two-day score of 147. Verona won the Division 1 team title with a four-person, two-day team score of 648.
Waterford coach John Leonard said Tuesday’s weather did not treat golfers well.
“That was the worst combination of rain, wind and cold I have ever seen or could imagine for a golf tournament,” Leonard said. “I felt so bad for all the girls to have such a big event and have to play in that.”
Bertschinger started play Tuesday tied for 60th out of 77 golfers after the first day of competition.
Bertschinger opened her round Tuesday with a 48 on the front. She parred three holes, bogeyed three holes, double-bogeyed two holes and shot a nine on No. 4, a 304-yard par four.
Bertschinger shot a 45 on the back nine. She birdied No. 13, a 294-yard par four, for her only birdie at state.
Bertschinger parred two holes, bogeyed three holes, double-bogeyed two holes and triple-bogeyed one hole on the back nine.
“Breanna did a great job of keeping her focus and was able to put together a good round,” Leonard said. “She’s not happy with the score, but considering the conditions it was great, and moved her up a lot of spots on the leader board.”
Bertschinger shot a 49 on the front nine and a 44 on the back nine on Monday.
“Breanna had one of those days where she wasn’t hitting her best, and then got a lot of bad breaks along the way,” Leonard said. “I was proud of the way she hung in there, grinded it out and finished strong.”
Bertschinger shot a 10 on her first hole, bogeyed the second hole and triple-bogeyed the third hole.
Bertschinger played better after her first three holes and parred three of the six remaining holes on the front nine.
Bertschinger double-bogeyed three of the first five holes on the back nine and shot par on the other two. She shot par on two of the final four holes and bogeyed the other two.
Leonard said Bertschinger is just the second player in Waterford girls golf history to advance to state. Bertschinger advanced to state out of the WIAA Division 1 Sectional Meet Oct. 6 at Janesville’s Riverside Golf Course.
Bertschinger shot a 79 and advanced as an individual qualifier.
“She has a lot to be proud of in the way she competed throughout her high school golf career, and qualifying for state is a great way to cap it off,” Leonard said.
The top two teams and top three individuals not members of one of the top two teams advance from the sectional to the state meet.
Union Grove’s Mari Suokko, the field’s only other golfer from the Southern Lakes Conference, finished tied for 42nd with a two-day total of 184. Suokko shot an 83 Monday and a 101 Tuesday.
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