Local players go home early

By Josh Krueger/Daily News staff

MIDDLETOWN - It wasn't a particularly successful day for some members of Aquidneck Island country clubs at one of their neighboring clubs. Four such members competed in the championship division of the Rhode Island Women's State Amateur Championship Tuesday at Newport National Golf Club.

After the first day of match play, all four were eliminated from the tournament.

Portsmouth residents Elaine Crawford, a Green Valley Country Club member, and Donna Warner, of Wanumetonomy, both lost 2 and 1. Karen Dufault and Nancy Diemoz of Montaup also lost.

The respective tasks facing Dufault and Diemoz were to take down the top two players from Monday's qualifying. Dufault took Valerie Blinn of Crestwood, whose 75 was Monday's second-best score, to 17 holes before falling 2 and 1.

Diemoz lost to Ally Caffrey of Wannamoisett 5 and 4. Caffrey shot a 74 to lead all players in Monday qualifying.

Dufault fell behind by three holes early in her match with Blinn, but was able to mount a comeback quickly.

"She's one of the top state players, so for me to take her to 17 was, without question, a great round for me," said Dufault, a Peabody, Mass., resident. "I missed a birdie putt on one of the par 5s (on 14) ... and I think that cost me the match.

"My goal was to go out there and not embarrass myself, and I think I accomplished that."

Blinn won the first three holes, but Dufault pulled even by the turn was 1 up at one point. She missed a three-foot bogey putt on 17, though, that would have pushed the match to the 18th.

"She played very solid, and I didn't play as well as I would have liked," Blinn said. "I got a little sloppy here and there, and she just kept making pars and she was getting the job done."

Caffrey, who just completed her freshman season at Richmond University in Richmond, Va., needed just 14 holes to beat Diemoz. Today, the Bay View product will face Carol Clarey of Segregansett, who won a 19-hole match against Amanda Sabitoni of Alpine.

Clarey sank two 15-foot putts on 17 and 18 to keep the match going, then drained a 20-footer on the 19th hole of the match - hole No. 1 at Newport National - for the win.

"On 17, I made a great putt to tie that hole; 18, I made a great putt to win that hole and 19, I made a great putt to win that hole," Clarey said. "It was all putts. I could see the line, and if you can see the line, you can putt these putts."

Putts were what cost Warner, she said, in her match against longtime friend and playing partner Roberta Hunt of Wannamoisett.

"It was just a matter of a few putts ... that's the difference," Warner said.

Warner, who shot 81 in Monday's qualifying round, said she was disappointed when she learned she was to face Hunt, who shot 89 Monday, in Tuesday's match.

"That is a very hard thing to do. Of all the people, when they told us the pairings, I (thought), 'Oh, no. Now I've got to play my friend,'" Warner said of Hunt, a former Wanumetonomy member.

While she was not pleased about losing 2 and 1 to Kay Bullock of Crestwood, Crawford was one of many golfers Tuesday who were very pleased with the condition of the Orchard Course at Newport National.

"The course is in fabulous shape. It couldn't play any better," Crawford said. "The greens were nice, the fairways, excellent shape."

Unfortunately for Crawford, she won't get to enjoy the course today. In a very close match with Bullock, Crawford said she just "ran out of holes."

"We were within one (shot) of each other the entire match," she said. "It was back-and-forth. At one point, Kay got 2 up on me, but I did manage to get one back, and then we just ran out of holes."