Frontier junior Barr captures South Area golf title
| Monday, Oct 26 2009 11:23 PM
Last Updated Monday, Oct 26 2009 11:30 PM
Central Section South Area Championships
At Buena Vista Golf Course; par 72
* -- qualified for individual section championship
^ -- qualified for team section championship
DIVISION I
STOCKDALE (444)^ -- Marina 76*, In 86*, Shih 89*, Marquez 95, Patel 98 (Ramkey 103)
GARCES (512)^ -- Rodriguez 88*, Madrid 103, Devlin 105, Clayton 106, Noworski 110 (Torres 131)
CENTENNIAL (549) -- Roberts 101, Ranka 105, Mudge 105, Herrera 114, Joseph 124 (Cox 126)
LIBERTY (567) -- Holbrook 93*, Thompson 99, Smith 121, Gharibeh 122, Pardue 132 (Delmarter 132)
BAKERSFIELD (649) -- Huser 97, Berry 107, Sindelar 128, Campbell 141 (Caldwell 176)
DIVISION II
FRONTIER (395)^ -- Barr 73*, Miller 78*, Shain 79*, Ullrich 82*, Rutherford 83* (Keeter 94)
TEHACHAPI (559) -- Steinbach 93*, Burris 115, Phillips 116, Duxbury 117, Cronaner 118 (Moore 130)
WASCO (581) -- Cortez 108, Elizondo 112, Saldena 113, Melanche 122, Carender 126 (Valdivia 127)
INDIVIDUALS -- Lux, Ridgeview, 83*; Lopez, East, 85*; Cho, Bakersfield Christian, 87*; Bishop, Golden Valley, 88*; Lopez, Ridgeview, 104.
Images
Felix Adamo / The Californian Froniter's Jordanne Barr pinches her leg as her putt rolls to the cup during the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course
Felix Adamo / The Californian Karley Lux motions for her ball to "sit" as it hits the green on 15th during the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course
Felix Adamo / The Californian Frontier's Malea Miller hits out of the trap on hole 15 during the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista golf course.
Felix Adamo / The Californian Chelsey Roberts of Centennial follows her putt to the cup on Buena Vista's hole 13.
Felix Adamo / The Californian Jasmine Rodriguez holds her head after her putt fall short on hole 13 during the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course. Centennial's Chelsey Roberts is at right.
Felix Adamo / The Californian The body english of Frontier's Jordanne Barr tells the story of a missed putt at the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course
Felix Adamo / The Californian Abby Marina of Stockadale watches her approach to the green on fourteen at the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course.
Felix Adamo / The Californian Chipping onto the 16th green is Kaley In of Stockdale. Action is from the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course
Felix Adamo / The Californian Motioning for her ball to "sit" as it hits the fifteenth green is Ridgeview's Karley Lux.
Felix Adamo / The Californian Megan Cho of Bakersfield Christian hits up to the green on fourteen at the high school girls golf tournament at Buena Vista Golf Course.
TAFT -- Her meteoric rise to the top of the Kern County girls high school golf world complete, Frontier junior Jordanne Barr didn't rest on her laurels.
She didn't proudly recap the round to family and friends or head to the snack bar for a celebratory soda or even accept congratulations with anything more than a polite smile and a thank you.
Nah, none of that. Barr was too busy practicing her putting.
In just her third year of golf, Barr won the Central Section South Area tournament with a 1-over-par 73 on Monday at Mifflin-Buena Vista Golf Course.
And, she said afterwards, she could have gone even lower -- we're talking 60s -- if she had simply putted a little better.
"I had so many lip-outs," Barr said. "I had so many five-footers that I missed. If I can putt -- which I've been working on a lot -- you're going to have those days where they'll drop."
As a team, Frontier finally broke the 400 barrier that it has been aiming for all season, shooting a 395 with five players in the top seven of the individual standings.
Frontier, along with Division I champion Stockdale (444) and Garces (512) moved on to the Central Section team championships next Monday in Tulare. The top 15 individuals, regardless of team, advance to the individual section championships Nov. 9 at Rio Bravo Country Club.
After Barr, Malea Miller was third (78), Meghan Shain fourth (79), Cami Ullrich fifth (82) and Tavia Rutherford seventh (83), great scores on a day when putting was seemingly a problem for everyone.
"They just played consistently and played within themselves," Frontier coach Tony Bernardin said. "Just stayed out of trouble."
Stockdale had three players advance as individuals, including sophomore Abby Marina, who shot 76 to place second.
"She's been more consistent this year, and she's a competitor," Stockdale coach Shannon Nieblas said. "She's matured a lot."
Freshmen Kaley In (86) and Justine Shih (89) were the other Mustangs to finish in the top 15.
"I still would like to see my four through six (players) drop their scores, and that's the short game," Nieblas said. "But my 1, 2, 3 are very competitive. They don't like not to do well."
The other individuals who advance are: Ridgeview's Karly Lux (sixth place, 83), East's Micah Lopez (eighth, 85), Bakersfield Christian's Megan Cho (10th, 87), Garces' Jasmine Rodriguez (11th, 88), Golden Valley's Marissa Bishop (12th, 88) Liberty's Lauren Holbrook (14th, 93) and Tehachapi's Tara Steinbach (15th, 93).
But, more than anyone, the day belonged to Barr.
She had one birdie, two bogeys and a whopping 15 pars, showing off a consistent short-iron game that set her up on the green more often than not. But she found the practice green after her round because of holes like the par-5 11th, where she was on the green in two but then two-putted for her only birdie.
"I could not putt at all," Barr said. "But irons were better than they've ever been before."
Bernardin said Barr practices six or seven days a week and that her rapid improvement is a testimony to her hard work.
"She's on fire," Bernardin said. "We backed her off a little bit early in the fall, but now we're gearing back up. She practices a long time."
So when Barr hit that practice green after her round, suffice it to say that she had more on her mind that winning the area meet -- she was thinking of the big tournament in two weeks.
"I'm really going for it," Barr said. "I take golf differently than other girls do. I got really serious last year. I love that nobody can take away from you or judge you. If you shoot better than somebody, no one can take that away from you."
