RENO, NV–The Northern Nevada Women’s Golf Association coasted to victory in the 2019 Silver Cup, winning back the trophy with a 26-14 victory over the Southern Nevada Women’s Golf Association. The event was held Oct. 13-15, 2019, at Genoa Lakes in Reno. –by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider.
The Southern team won the title in 2018 and that victory snapped a three-year run of wins by the Northern squad, but the tournament is as much about building camaraderie off the course as on it and it is “an honor” for players to be a part of it. With all that said, both teams still cherish the victories and the Cup returning the North is a special moment for the team.
“The girls really bonded together,” said Deb Schwoyer, North captain. “We were gelling from Day one. All of their personalities were great. I could pair them with anyone and they were good with that.”
The Northern Nevada team consisted of: Jean Driver, Susan Hood, Jai Kim, Marci Crowell, Joanne Bower, Jeannie Cassinelli, Cindy Hannah, Patti Davin, Carol Colwell, Anita Mackey, Ruthie Maxwell, Laura Jones, Elaine Walker, Karen Caterino, Sarah Boyle, Darla Smyth, Janice Campbell, Kathy Streeter, Christy Atencio and Sheri Barainca.
The Southern Nevada team was comprised of: Ruby Biehl, Linda Prujan, Gabriele Buonacorsi, Ilana Hardy, Sherry Mesecher, Sherry Jackson, Jackie Jordan, Regina Quintero, Margaret Cashwell, Rusty Beckel, Theresa Summers, Sandra Jenkins, Christine Soscia, Fay Geddes, Christina Brandt, Carrie Langevin, Danielle Kaylor, Theresa Prospero, Ronda Henderson and Karen Herness.
The Northern squad opened the 2019 event with a 7-3 edge after the first day’s alternate shot round. They followed that up with a 6-4 win in Monday’s best-ball round to open up a 13-7 advantage heading into the final day’s 20 singles matches.
That set the stage for Tuesday’s 20 singles matches, won by the North 13-7.
In the singles matches finale, the South put three of the first four points on the board in the first matches out to narrow the edge to just three points at 14-11 to give a spark to the South squad.
But the North posted the next five points to open up an eight point lead and closed it out by winning seven of the final eight matches.
“It was a real team effort,” Schwoyer said. “They aren’t ‘I’…it was ‘us’, ‘we’, ‘the North’ or ‘We can do it.’ I didn’t have to say anything to them. They were all in it together. They hung in there and did a great job. They didn’t need me saying ‘you’ve got to win’, ‘you’ve got to win.’ They’ve played enough golf to know what they need to do.”
For the South, it was a battle all three days.
“This certainly wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for,” said Rusty Beckel, co-captain. “They just outplayed us. Their higher handicap players were really strong in this event and when we had to give up strokes, it was a real battle.”
Beckel said she was happy with the South’s final day game plan.
“We felt confident going into (Tuesday),” she said. “We felt we could give them a run. When we did the pairings we knew we had to get off to a good start and when we saw a lot of red early, we got pretty excited.”
But, that feeling didn’t last.
“The middle of the order was a little lopsided,” Beckel said. “That part of the order, they were a little stronger and that’s where things really turned in their favor.”
But the South team added the future looks bright.
“We had a lot of new faces…a lot of rookies,” said Karen Herness, South co-captain. “We went out and recruited players wherever we played. We talked up the Silver Cup and what an honor it is to represent the South and hopefully that trend continues.”