Highland girls golfers post big victory in home quad match
Highland girls senior golfer Claire Korte continued her hot shooting on the links Monday and her latest effort helped the Lady Bulldogs get their first match win of the 2020 season.
Korte fired a blistering round of 44 and won medalist honors with her first place overall finish to lead Highland to a quad match win over Breese Central, Father McGivney, and Civic Memorial at Highland Country Club.
The match win was a wonderful development for the underclassmen-laden Lady Bulldogs, who have spent most of the first two weeks of the season battling in tournaments against bigger schools. Highland shot a cool, efficient 196 to claim the match.
“My girls coming back this year from last year, my sophomores who were freshmen last year showed so much potential and they worked on it over the summer and kept playing a lot and I knew they would start scoring lower (this season),” Highland coach Ashley DeSelm said. “That’s kind of what they’re showing right now and it’s still pretty early in the season.”
Korte again led the charge for Highland with her first place finish.
“I’m really proud of her,” DeSelm said. “It’s her senior year and she’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing keeping the scores low and being a great team leader.”
DeSelm credits Korte with making an adjustment with her driver to lengthen her drives and strong chipping and putting with allowing her to be so strong on the greens of late.
“Her chipping and putting has been saving her game and it’s been great and she just needs to keep going with that,” DeSelm said.
Freshman Kalie Gould shot a 49 while sophomore Raeghan Henrichs shot 51. Sophomore Maci Miles rounded out the Lady Bulldogs scorers with a solid round of 52.
“I had a lot of young girls step up today and it was great,” DeSelm said.
DeSelm noted Highland has a distinct advantage at home because their home course has steeper holes to play than most courses and her team is comfortable with it because of their familiarity with it.
“We have a big advantage whenever we play at home because these girls play these greens all the time and when other schools come to play at our course it’s a very tough course because a lot of the greens are very steep and there is not a flat lye,” DeSelm said. “So, our girls kind of know how to play it (the course). They know where to hit the ball.”
Father McGivney finished second to Highland shooting at 207. Civic Memorial took third with a 208 and Breese Central finished fourth, shooting a 234.
The Lady Bulldogs will enjoy a week off before returning to action Wednesday, Sept. 9, with a tri-match against Triad and Belleville West at Oak Brook Golf in Edwardsville.
This story was originally published August 30, 2020 at 12:00 AM.