Vosters with a vengeance

By MIKE FINNEY • The News Journal • July 2, 2010

Bethany Beach's Christina Vosters won her second straight Delaware Women's Golf Association's Junior Girls Championship.

Vosters, an 18-year-old, shot rounds of 79-71 for a total of 150.

"I didn't play the best I could, but it's great to go out and since this is my last Delaware Junior Open it's nice to get my name back on the trophy for the last time," said Vosters, who is preparing to head to Scotland to participate in a couple of tournaments.

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Even keel wins Delaware Women's Golf Association Amateur for Shimel
Defending champ takes steady route to repeat title
By BRAD MYERS • The News Journal • June 24, 2010

WYOMING -- Christine Shimel plays collegiate golf for the Maryland Terrapins, so she knows that slow and steady wins the race.

Shimel entered Wednesday's final round of the Delaware Women's Golf Association Amateur Championship with a three-stroke lead, and that's exactly how she finished it. She bogeyed two holes, but followed each with a birdie on the way to an even-par 72 and a three-day total of 7-under-par 209 at Wild Quail Country Club.

"I think that was definitely important," Shimel said of the birdies on Nos. 7 and 11. "It just got me back in the game. It was just kind of an average round. I didn't do anything special, just two birdies, two bogeys."

But it added up to something special: Shimel's second straight DWGA crown, and her sixth consecutive year with a DWGA title after winning four straight state junior championships from 2005-08. The Kennett Square, Pa., resident is coming off an All-Atlantic Coast Conference season and will be a sophomore at Maryland this fall.

Reigning DWGA Junior champion Christina Vosters of Bethany Beach finished second, also shooting 72 for a 4-under 212 total. Kelli Pry of Coatesville, Pa., who will be a junior at the University of South Florida

this fall, pulled within one shot of Shimel through six holes, then slipped to a 74 to finish at 1-under 215.

"Going into today, I told myself that all I can control is myself," Shimel said. "Three girls could have won this tournament, and three girls played great. I just tried to focus on my game, because what they do is beyond my control."

All three displayed power and control around the 5,149-yard layout at Wild Quail, finishing at least 21 strokes ahead of the rest of the 37-player field. They also played in the final threesome last year, and finished in the same order. But Vosters and Pry were in a tight battle for second through most of the back nine on Wednesday, something Vosters believes will benefit her as she enters her freshman season of college golf at Penn State.

"I had a lot of fun competing with those girls," Vosters said. "... I have a ton of respect for Christine. She's a great person and a fabulous girl. And Kelly is a really nice girl. That was really good for me, going into college, to feel that kind of pressure of being neck and neck with somebody."

Pry trailed Shimel by four strokes at the start of the day, but got off to a hot start with birdies on the first two holes. She then made a clutch 12-foot par putt on the sixth, and when Shimel missed her 10-foot par putt, Pry closed within one.

The turning point came on the seventh, a short, boomerang-shaped par 4. Pry hit her tee shot 60 yards from the green, but came up short, ran a chip past the hole and missed a 10-footer for par. Shimel's tee shot stopped 40 yards from the green, and she wedged it close for an easy birdie to push her lead back to three strokes.

"That was big," Shimel said. "That really just helped me get my focus back and get some confidence back after making a bogey."

Shimel hit eight greens in regulation on the back nine, with the only miss being by inches on the 14th. She followed a three-putt bogey on 10 with a 20-foot birdie putt on 11, then reeled off six stress-free pars. Her birdie putt on the 18th hole ran 8 feet past, but she made it coming back to put the cap on a slow, steady victory.

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The Bash to the Beach was held over two beautiful days of weather, a first for this event! 100 women participated in this Better Ball of Partners event held April 19th & 20th, at Kings Creek CC and Cripple Creek CC.

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