By Mark Schmetzer
Nancy Sander’s assessment was as, um, earthy as it was accurate.
Sander and her Miami View teammates – Diane Sundrup, Molly Ziegler and Claire Martini – for the 2019 SHE Tournament had opened with a solid performance on the 10th hole on September 9 at Blue Ash Golf Course. The par-3 11th was another matter, according to Sundrup.
“We were thrilled,” Sundrup said of the group’s general mood after No. 10. “We’re like, ‘We’re doing great.’ No. 11 is a par-3 over water. Molly and Claire both went into the water. I said, ‘I’m using more club,’ and I went over the green. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’m in the water on the other side.’ All three of us ended up with a five.
“We were like, ‘Well.’ To do that bad on a par-3 brought us back to earth. Nancy said, ‘Look, two of us can play (poorly), but two of us have to play well.’”
Following that impromptu game plan, the Miami View team ended up finishing with a minus-20, good for a three-stroke win over the Kenwood team of Barb Goila, Diane Herndon, Debbie Lach and Joan Roehr.
The Ivy Hills team of Diana Oberschmidt, Connie Toole, Sybil McFadden and Ellen Gibler finished third at minus-16 while trying to defend its 2018 championship, followed at minus-12 by the Western Hills group of Trisha Reperowitz, Laurie Lewis, Barb Trotta and Tina O’Conn.
The annual SHE Tournament was started in 2008 as a way to promote and fund the GCWGA Scholarship Foundation. Each member club has a Foundation Day Net tournament to determine their four-player teams for the SHE Cup tournament.
This year’s event raised $6,775 at the tournament and more than $7,000 from the clubs’ Foundation Day tournaments.
Twenty clubs sent teams to this year’s event, which unfolded in glorious weather.
“We had beautiful weather, and the course was in great shape,” Sundrup said. “Our foursome were great people to play with. Claire and Molly both are 18-holers, and I’ve played a lot with them. Nancy is normally a nine-holer, so I was thrilled to play with her.” Her observation played out, Sundrup said.
“It seemed like we always had two who played a hole decent and a couple who struggled on difficult holes,” she recalled. “We assumed everybody else also struggled on those holes.”
Sundrup had her usual struggles on the par-5 18th, where she’s never done better than shooting eighth.
“I can’t get below that,” she lamented. “What’s funny is the hole is dedicated to Jane DeGroff, who belonged to Miami View. They’ve got a little picture and everything. I loved Jane. She was a great golfer, but every time I play it, I think, ‘This was her favorite hole?’ “Someday, I’m going to get a seven on it,” she vowed.
Her habitual eight on 18 in the SHE event didn’t keep Miami View from claiming the championship, though she and her teammates weren’t sure of their win until the scores were announced
“We actually turned our score in first,” Sundrup said. “I made the comment that I thought we did respectable, but we probably didn’t win anything. When they said the one team was 16 under, we’re like, ‘Wow, we’re guaranteed second.’ When they announced 17 under was second, we started high-fiving.
“This is funny. Claire and Molly played (September 10) at Miami View and they were amazing. They said, ‘We’re sorry we didn’t do this yesterday.’ They were both disappointed. I said, ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter. We won.’”
Sundrup appreciated the gracious gesture offered by Oberschmidt after learning that she’d have to take the traveling trophy to a Madeira business to have “Miami View” engraved on it.
“I’m from the west side,” she pointed out. “I didn’t know where it was. I said, ‘Where do I go and how do I get there?’ Diana was in the group that won last year, and she was really sweet to me. She said, ‘I know where it is. I’ll take it there for you.’ “It was pretty exciting. We were just thrilled. It was fun, and it’s a great cause to fund higher education for high school students to do so well in so many ways.”