Preview: 14th Vicki DiSantis Girls' Championship

 

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (August 23, 2019) -- The Carolinas Golf Association will conduct the 14th Vicki DiSantis Girls' Championship from August 24-25, 2019 at Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.

Related: Championship Website | Starting Times | Scoring | History

For the 12^th consecutive year, the Vicki DiSantis Girls’ Championship returns to Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. All but one past champion has gone on to play Division I college golf, including: two-time champion Austin Ernst (LSU), Amber Littman (East Carolina), Megan Moore (East Carolina), Katherine Perry (North Carolina), Chelsey Couch (South Carolina), Kelli Murphy (Auburn), Madison Moosa (Furman), and Emily Cox (Southern Mississippi), Gina Kim (Duke) and Gracyn Burgess (Clemson).

 Last year’s champion, Rachel Kuehn of Asheville, N.C. is a high school senior and will start her freshman year at Wake Forest University in the fall of 2019. This year, we are guaranteed a first-time champion. Here are the top-ranked Carolinas junior girls to watch in this year’s field:

• Katherine Schuster of Kill Devil Hills, N.C. is currently ranked No. 3 in the Carolinas Junior Girls' rankings and is our 2018 Carolinas Junior Girls’ Player of the Year. In last year’s championship, Schuster shot the low final round (69) to finish runner up. This summer, Schuster won her first CGA Championship at the N.C. Junior Girls’. She also won the North & South Junior Girls’ at Pinehurst, the Beth Daniel Junior Azalea and the Hope Valley Junior Invitational. Schuster is a member of the 2021 graduating class and has verbally committed to play college golf at Clemson University.

• Maria Atwood of Holly Springs, N.C. is currently ranked No. 13 in the Carolinas Junior Girls’ rankings. Atwood won the 62^nd Carolinas Junior Girls’ Championship last June to claim her first CGA championship title. Since that win, Atwood has gone on to win twice on the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour at the Gate City Classic and the North Carolina Series Finale. Atwood has several other top-ten finishes in CGA Championships including a second place finish at the N.C. Junior Girls’, a T3 at the Twin States Girls’ and a T9 at the Carolinas Girls’ Championship. Atwood is a member of the 2022 graduating class.
   
• Kelly Topiwala of Charlotte, N.C. is currently ranked No. 16 in the Carolinas Junior Girls’ rankings. She has several top-ten finishes this year including a second place finish at the US Kids Golf World Teen Girls 15-18 Age Division, a third place finish at the Dogwood State Junior Girls’, a third place finish at the Twin States Junior Girls’, a third place finish at the North & South Junior Girls’ at Pinehurst and a fifth place finish at the CPGA Junior Girls’. Topiwala is a member of the 2020 graduating class.

Inspired by a rolling piece of farmland in the mid-1960s, golf course architect Charles M. Mahannah created Pine Island CC’s course so that every golfer would enjoy the design.  With the latest renovation direction by golf course architect Michael Gleason of Pinehurst, N.C. the course is one of the finest USGA-regulated courses in the region. Dramatic, architecturally sound and extremely innovative, this premier private course provides fun and challenging play for golfers of all ages and skill levels.

The Vicki DiSantis Junior Girls' Championship is 36 holes of stroke play competition. Entry is open to any female amateur golfer ages 12 to 18, who has not started college, maintains a residence in North Carolina or South Carolina, is a member in good standing of a club which is a member of the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) and has a current USGA Handicap Index® at a CGA member club that does not exceed 18.3.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Saturday, August 24
Round 1 – 18 holes stroke play (tee times begin at 12:30 p.m. off #1 and #10 tees)
Lunch immediately following play for players and spectators

Sunday, August 25
Round 2 – 18 holes stroke play (tee times begin at 8:00 a.m. off #1 and #10 tees)
Ice cream and awards immediately following play for players and spectators