Youth gets drop on field at R.I. Women's Amateur

01:36 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 25, 2006

BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer

FOSTER -- The kids took over the Rhode Island Men's Amateur Golf Championship this year and now they're doing it in the Women's, too.

Two of the youngest players in the field -- 20-year-old Amanda Sabitoni, who plays out of Alpine, and 15-year-old Samantha Morrell, who plays out of North Kingstown -- led the way yesterday in the qualifying round of the 11th annual Rhode Island Women's State Amateur, sponsored by the Ocean State Women's Golf Associaiton.

Cranston's Sabitoni, a junior at Lynn University of Boca Raton, Fla., earned medalist honors with a 5-over-par 77. That was just one stroke better than Morrell, who excelled on the boys' team at North Kingstown High School this year and who also was a girls' All-Stater.

Defending champion Valerie Blinn, the dominant player in OSWGA events for the last several years, settled for third, with a 79. There were other familiar faces and frequent contenders qualifying for the eight-player championship division, including Jennifer Hendrick, Beth Elllinwood, Donna Warner and Kibbe Reilly.

Still, the event looked very much like the R.I. Golf Association Amateur earlier this month, where young players pushed their way toward the top. Sabitoni and Morrell led the way. Sabitoni had two birdies, at 7 and 16, both on putts of about 15 feet. She was one of many who liked the greens, which were double cut for the tournament.

"I putted really well," she said. "This is a position course. I was able to play a practice round here so I knew where to go."

Sabitoni plays at Lynn, but said her game has improved considerably since school ended.

"I had some movement in my swing," she said. She has worked on eliminating that. "Now I'm hitting the ball better," she said.

The player who came closest to matching her was Morrell, who was playing in her first-ever statewide event for adults.

"I wasn't too nervous," she said. "I've played a lot in high school and other events. I was just trying to make sure I was focused."

She obviously was. She birdied 1, 3 and 5 to get to 3-under early on. Morrell, who has a big-time swing, struck the ball beautifully. It was her putter that let her down.

"I three-putted 6, 7 and 8. I hit every green in regulation, then three-putted," she said.

Morrell, who won recognition last summer when she made three holes-in-one in two days at Button Hole, already has had a fun summer. She was one of the 2,000 volunteers who helped at the U.S. Women's Open at Newport. On the final full day, the 36-hole day, her assignment was to be standard bearer for the group that included Annika Sorenstam, the eventual champion.

"You learn so much," she said. "You see the way they hit shots. You see the way they focus, especially Annika. It was a great experience."

Katherine Murphy, a recent Portsmouth grad, who is headed to Penn State on a partial golf scholarship, also qualified for the championship division with an 80.

Blinn's 79 was a round that would be much better for match play, which begins today. Blinn had three birdies in one four-hole stretch on the front nine. She was one of the victims of the tight conditions that mark Foster, as she also had a triple bogey and two doubles.

It took a score of 83 to advance. A three-way playoff was held for the final two spots. Warner parred and Reilly bogeyed the first hole. They advanced when Ally Caffrey double-bogeyed.

There was one disqualification. Trudy Dufault, the OSWGA's co-founder, would have qualified for the second division with a 104 but disqualified herself for using a wrong ball.

Quarterfinals will be held today and both semis and the finals tomorrow.