Peters Township junior, Shady Side Academy freshman dodge raindrops to win WPIAL golf titles
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Monday, September 30, 2024 | 6:31 PM
Peters Twp.’s Ellie Benson watches her fairway shot on Hole 16 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Peters Twp.’s Ellie Benson hits her shot on Hole 17 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang chips onto the green on Hole 18 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang watches her tee shot on Hole 13 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang hugs Eden Christian’s Pearl Lundgren after their match in the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Eden Christian’s Pearl Lundgren hits onto the green on Hole 12 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Elizabeth Forward’s Mya Morgan hits her shot on Hole 17 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Elizabeth Forward’s Mya Morgan watches her bunker shot on Hole 16 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Eden Christian’s Pearl Lundgren watches her fairway shot on Hole 12 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Elizabeth Forward’s Mya Morgan watches her tee shot on Hole 18 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Peters Twp.’s Ellie Benson watches her tee shot on Hole 17 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang watches her fairway shot on Hole 12 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Shady Side Academy’s Alyssa Zhang celebrates with Peters Twp.’s Ellie Benson after they won the WPIAL Class AA and AAA girls golf championships on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Peters Twp.’s Ellie Benson watches her fairway shot on Hole 16 during the WPIAL Class AAA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Greensburg Central’s Alayna Stawovy watches her tee shot on Hole 13 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Greensburg Central’s Alayna Stawovy watches her putt on Hole 12 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Greensburg Central’s Alayna Stawovy lines up her drive on Hole 13 during the WPIAL Class AA girls golf championship on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Butler Country Club.
Alyssa Zhang took up golf just four years ago.
“It was because of covid,” she said. “I wanted to try something new. I didn’t want to play contact sports anymore.”
Zhang’s first WPIAL championship, though, was not contactless.
It was clean, crisp contact with her irons on rain-soaked fairways that helped propel the budding freshman from Shady Side Academy.
Consistency in ugly conditions helped Zhang shoot an even-par 72 in the final round and rally from eight shots back to win the Class 2A title on a drippy, overcast Monday afternoon at Butler Country Club.
She was 2-under-par through her first six holes and posted a pair of 36s to take the title.
“I just wanted to play the best I could,” said Zhang, the first freshman to win a WPIAL girls golf title since four-time winner Eva Bulger of Quaker Valley in 2019. “I don’t usually play well in the rain. I had to make sure the club didn’t slip out of my hands.”
Zhang finished the 36-hole tournament at 11-over 155, three shots better than first-round leader Pearl Lundgren, a junior from Eden Christian who took second last year.
Lundgren began the day at 3-over before Zhang chased her down and passed her for the first-place medal.
In Class 3A, junior Ellie Benson went wire-to-wire, maintaining her lead throughout the final round for a 5-over 149. She closed with a 2-over 74 to win by eight over Elizabeth Forward junior and defending champion Mya Morgan, who won last year by 12 shots over Benson to take the title at Diamond Run Golf Club.
The first round this year was played a week ago at Willowbrook Country Club in Apollo.
Zhang said she thought she could win if she made up four shots on each nine.
“It was tough today. I couldn’t reach any of the par 5s,” said Zhang, the second WPIAL champion in girls golf from Shady Side Academy, joining Margaret Pentrack, who won in 2006. “I played well. On two of the par 3s, I hit it to 3 feet and made the birdies.”
An Allison Park resident, Zhang made five birdies overall, three on the front nine.
Benson, who opened with a 75, was asked how much sleep she got the night before the final round.
After all, she led by two going into the final round last year and lost by a dozen.
“None,” she said. “It was like Christmas Eve. You can’t sleep.”
The first WPIAL girls golf champion from Peters Township probably will sleep a lot better after a final round that included three birdies, 12 pars and four bogies in rain that started as a sprinkle and turned into a constant downpour.
She drove the ball well and stayed out of trouble, avoiding the left side most of the day.
“My coach and I worked on my swing because I had been over-drawing everything,” Benson said. “He showed me this drill, and I got up in the middle of night and (rehearsed) it. That was one of the biggest adjustments I made.”
Benson shot 35 on the front nine to increase her lead to six.
“I let everyone else complain about the rain,” she said. “I had to ignore it and trust my setup and routine. Everything felt easy today. I played with confidence.”
The long-hitting Morgan said a sticky first round prevented her from a repeat. She opened with an 81 and finished with a 76.
Conditions did not allow her to press to try to make up ground.
“I didn’t play my best in the first round and let the course get the best of me,” Morgan said. “Ellie has progressed so much. I could never be more proud of her. She is very consistent.”
Morgan also had three birdies, including two on par 5s.
Sophomore Sienna Smith of Pine-Richland finished third at plus-14.
Peters Township freshman Betty Glyptis shot 77 Monday to take fourth.
The top nine finishers in 2A and the top seven in 3A qualified to play in the PIAA championships Oct. 21-22 at Penn State.
The 3A qualifiers are: Benson, Morgan, Smith, Glyptis, senior Sophia Severns of Peters Township (+18), senior Brooke Vowcheck of Peters Township (+24), and sophomore Liv DeGori of Moon (+24).
Qualifiers in 2A are: Zhang, Lundgren, freshman JoJo Jaskulski of Chartiers-Houston (+21), senior Emily Obara of Seton LaSalle (+26), freshman Riley Kontul of North Catholic (+41), junior Alyana Stawovy of Greensburg Central Catholic (+45), junior Makenna Kamnikar of Quaker Valley (+47), junior Maddie Desanti of Neshannock (+51), and sophomore Kennedy Kelly of Greensburg Central Catholic (+51).
DeSanti and Kelly advanced from a two-hole playoff.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
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