Advertisement

Graff Leads Tourney : Golf: Washington girl fires 71 to lead Girls Junior Americas Cup. Southern California ahead in team competition.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Although Heather Graff doesn’t like a lot of attention, she’s getting a lot of it as she leads the field of the Girls Junior Americas Cup after 36 holes.

Graff, of Kennewick, Wash., fired a 1-over 71 Wednesday, the best round by two strokes in the 72-player, 54-hole tournament at the Escondido Country Club to take the individual lead.

Graff tees off alongside Hawaii’s Megan Maedo (149) and San Clemente’s Eunice Choi, from the Southern California Junior Golf Assn., (153) a little before 9 a.m. today, trying to help Washington become the first team outside of California to win the tournament in its 15-year history.

Advertisement

With her two-day 148, she helped Washington move from fourth to third place in the team scoring with 467 strokes. Washington trails Hawaii (459) and four-time defending champion Southern California (466).

Even more impressive in the event for 13- to 17-year-olds, Graff, who finished fourth in the tournament last year, is a young 16--her birthday was June 13. She’ll be back next year.

Graff’s a little surprised she’s leading the pack. She developed a sore forearm Sunday while playing nine holes and did nothing more than play the par-threes and a couple of par-fours during the practice round Monday on the 5,800-yard layout.

“I didn’t want to use it as an excuse,” Graff said. “I was nervous going into the first round.”

She iced the arm, shot a 77 the first day and went into the second round in fifth place.

Now, she’s the leader.

“There’s no question in my mind she’ll win,” said her teammate from Washington, Amy Widdows, who lives about an hour away from Graff. “I don’t think there’s any way that she won’t win--she’s too solid. She could fire another 70, easy.”

Widdows is probably Graff’s closest friend in the golf community. They compete against each other but often drive to tournaments together.

Advertisement

“When she gets on a roll, it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s going to be 6 under, no problem,’ ” said Widdows, 17. “She can get up and down from anywhere. She’s got a great short game.”

Graff would have broken 70 had it not been for a double bogey on No. 17, when she found the sand trap, chipped over the green and then two-putted. She bounced back and birdied 18.

On the day, she made five putts Wednesday in the 6- to 8-foot range to save par.

Widdows and team captain Joan Teats have tremendous confidence in Graff, but Graff typically sells herself short.

“Modest, that’s a good description of her,” Teats said. “She might say she’s 200, 210 yards off the tee, but she’s 220, 225.

“She’s got a very calm disposition, and the best extension through the ball of anybody I’ve seen in 20 years in Junior Golf.”

After finishing 21st in the Optimist Junior World at Torrey Pines--”I was awful the last day (with an 85)”--Graff successfully defended her Washington Junior State Championship, lost 2-up to eventual winner Jamie Koizumi in the semifinals of the USGA Championship in Indianapolis, and now leads here.

Advertisement
Advertisement