Caffrey medalist in OSWGA event

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 7, 2004

BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Ally Caffrey picked a great time to match her career-best round.

Caffrey, a recent Bay View Academy grad who is headed to the University of Richmond in the fall, fired a sparkling 2-under-par 70 yesterday at Triggs to win medalist honors in the state amateur championship sponsored by the Ocean State Women's Golf Association.

Caffrey had six birdies as she beat two other young stars, defending champion Valerie Blinn and Amber Weller, a semifinalist last year, by three. With a bigger and deeper field than ever, it took a score of 82 to qualify for the championship division for match play, which begins today.

Few players in the history of the nine-year-old OSWGA have had any better rounds than Caffrey put together yesterday. As good as it was, she was a bit frustrated it wasn't better.

"I had two doubles," she said. She made seven on the par-5 6th, normally one of the easier holes on the course. On the par-3 14th, her tee shot got her into trouble.

"It plugged right under the lip. You could only see the top of the ball," she said. "I had no choice. I had to take an unplayable."

Otherwise, she was superb. Twice she reached par 5s in two and narrowly missed eagles. Caffrey, who will meet Karen Dufault in the first round, took little time to celebrate the round, which matched her previous best, a 70 at LPGA International in Florida, ironically a round that also included six birdies and two doubles.

"I have to go to work," she said.

Caffrey is working at the Button Hole short course and teaching center, just a mile or so away from Triggs.

Blinn, who has been the dominant player in OSWGA events over the last two years, had some adventures of her own. She was in Florida Sunday competing in qualifying for the U.S. Women's Amateur. She shot a 79 and missed by three shots. But that was only the beginning of her problems.

"There were seven rain delays," she said. "I didn't finish until 5:15 and I had a 6:30 flight." She was playing in Jupiter and had a flight out of West Palm.

It was a rush, but she made it. She did not get home until midnight and had an 8:30 tee time yesterday. Blinn felt she was less than ready to play, but it did not show. As she has done so often in tournaments over the last two years, she played excellently, with two exceptions.

"I missed two putts from about a foot," she said. "It was my own fault. Except for that, we had a great day. We had a great group and the course is fun to play. It's in great shape."

Blinn's threesome included Felicia Revens, who easily qualified for the championship division with a 78, and Weller, who tied Blinn for second with a 73. Weller's 73 was very different than Blinn's.

Marisa White, playing with the help of a cortisone shot to help reduce the pain from tendinitis, took fourth with a 76.

Beyond the good scoring, the day also was significant because there were more players from more different courses than ever before taking part. The OSWGA and the older Rhode Island Women's Golf Association have gone down different paths since the OSWGA was organized nine years ago. However, over the last year or two, there has been more of a dialogue between the two groups and an increase in the number of players taking advantage of opportunities provided by both groups.