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Warsaw will have to wait for another year for an undefeated girls golf team.
The 2000 team came within two matches of finishing this season undefeated, but Culver Girls Academy outshot Warsaw 171-182 in a Tuesday match at Mystic Hills.
Warsaw's 182 is a good nine-hole score; CGA's 171 is an excellent nine-hole score. CGA, a school that recruits, traditionally has talented golf teams.
"Going into Culver, I knew they had some players who could play some golf," Warsaw coach Bob Turner said. "There's always that loss out there, and you don't know when it will come.
"If we had played lousy and not won, it would have been different. We played well and got beat, and I can live with that. Now we can get down to business."
Business picks up Saturday, when 15-1 Warsaw hosts the sectional at Rozella Ford Golf Course. By losing a match, Turner figures the pressures accompanied with trying to keep a perfect season alive have vanished.
CGA got Warsaw on Tuesday, but the Eagles won't be able to get the Tigers again. CGA, which won last year's Warsaw Sectional with a 352, has changed sectionals, along with Manchester, Plymouth, Southwood and Wabash. Those five teams moved out of the Warsaw Sectional and were replaced by Goshen, Concord, Northridge, Elkhart Central and Elkhart Memorial.
Last year Warsaw finished a distant 38 strokes behind CGA with a 390, and Columbia City placed third with a 392. Plymouth and Manchester placed fourth and fifth respectively.
The Tigers have played and beaten every team in the sectional head-to-head except Elkhart Memorial and Elkhart Central. Warsaw's averages, from the first golfer in the lineup to the fifth, are as follows: Kerri Wrobel, 42.9; Lara Reed, 45; Jaci Thallemer, 47; Erin Elliott, 48.5; and Abby Schori, 50. Warsaw's best scores this season are 177 overall and 182 at Rozella Ford.
Warsaw went 8-0 at Rozella Ford, a course that Turner claims is one of the most challenging sectional courses in the state, if not the most challenging.
"It has fast greens, trees, bunkers, a lot for a high school girls golf team to contend with," he said. "This course isn't open like a lot of sectional courses. This course separates the field real quick.
"The course is a little soft with the recent rain, so the course will play a little longer. I talked to the Columbia City coach (Wednesday) night. He said the scores at our sectional are always a little higher than the other scores put up by good teams around the state. But you have to look at the courses the teams play on."
None of the incoming teams may be as strong as CGA is this year, but Goshen (17-2) and Concord (16-4) present Warsaw with formidable challenges, as well as returner Columbia City (13-1). Columbia City won the Warsaw Sectional two years ago. The top three teams and top three individuals advance to the East Noble Regional.
"It's a good sectional for us," Turner said. "There are four teams that have a legitimate chance to get out: Columbia City, Goshen, Concord and us.
"After that, it's a different level of teams."
Then again, teams that play at Rozella often feel their main opponent is the course, not opposing teams.
"It's a question of who will win - your team or the course," Turner said.
In Turner's 13 years as coach, Warsaw has advanced out of the sectional 11 times. Last year Warsaw placed last at the regional.
Turner's not about to apologize now for having home-course advantage.
"I'll be honest, I'm tickled to death we are playing the sectional at Rozella Ford," Turner said. "All of our girls are comfortable on this course.
"Some of the teams don't like Rozella, not because of the hospitality, but because it can be a hostile course. One hundred eighty-five is a good (nine-hole) score on this course. You won't see many teams shoot below 180 on this course."
2000 WARSAW GIRLS GOLF SECTIONAL
Saturday at Rozella Ford in Warsaw
Tee times
11-11:32 a.m. -ÊWarsaw (15-1), Columbia City (14-1), Goshen (17-2)
11:40 a.m.-12:12 p.m. -ÊConcord (16-4), Wawasee (9-15), Northridge (7-10)
12:20-12:52 -ÊNorthWood (4-12), Elkhart Memorial (10-6), Elkhart Central (10-7)
1-1:32 -ÊTippecanoe Valley (6-20), Whitko (4-10)
2000 H. NORTH GOLF SECTIONAL
Saturday at Norwood Golf Course
Manchester (15-10) tee time -Ê9:40 a.m.
