Golfer wins Open in Green Valley debut

By Josh Krueger/Daily News staff

Former Rogers High School principal Victoria Johnson tees off on the 10th hole Monday during the Rhode Island Women's Open golf tournament. Johnson finished second in the B Division. (James Rajotte/Daily News photo)

PORTSMOUTH - Parts of the course at Green Valley Country Club were quite wet and soft Monday. The greens, however, were very dry, very hard and very fast and wreaked havoc with approach shots all day.

Only three players in the Rhode Island Women's State Open Championship broke 80. Green Valley's Elaine Crawford was the top local finisher on the day. She shot 81 at her home course and found herself alone in sixth place in the A Division when all the scores were in.

While most found difficulty on the fast greens, Crawford actually enjoyed it. She just wasn't ultimately satisfied with her round.

"Most people thought (the greens) were pretty fast but I like them fast," Crawford said. "I'm not totally unhappy with my score. I felt I should have played better here since it is my home course."

Valerie Blinn had never played Green Valley before and did find the greens to be rather fast. Yet that did not seem to bother her too much. She shot a 1-over-par 72 and won the tournament. Marisa White of Triggs was four strokes back in second with a 76 and Carol Clarey of Segregansett was third with a 78.

"I wasn't sure where the ball was going to go if I put it on the green, because they were kind of hard, so I played very tentatively," Blinn said. "I went down a club a few times. ... and left it short. I wasn't mad but it gets a little frustrating."

Blinn teed off at 7:38 a.m. with Amber Weller of Point Judith and Portsmouth's Katherine Murphy. Weller shot an 80 and Murphy shot 84 despite an eight on the par-5 17th. Murphy shot a 4-over 39 on the front nine but followed that up with a 45 on the back.

"I was hitting the ball solid and straight and the putting was OK on the front nine," she said. "(On the back nine) I got into a little trouble. I started hitting things right and went out of bounds on 17 and made a triple (bogey)."

Despite her troubles after the turn, Murphy, 15, impressed the eventual champion and got some sound advice from Blinn and Weller, who are both accomplished collegiate golfers in their early 20s.

"She is a good player now at 15 and you can just see it that, as she gets older, she's going to be even more dominating than what she already is," Blinn said of Murphy. "She said she was a little surprised that she was paired up with me and Amber (Weller), but we told her, 'That shouldn't intimidate you. You should go in there thinking you can do just as well or better than us.'"

No one could blame Murphy for being a bit intimidated. Blinn won the Rhode Island Women's State Amateur Championship a week and a half ago and Weller made the semifinals of the Championship Division. At the same tournament, Murphy won the Second Division title, but Monday she played in the top division.

"The first hole was a little intimidating but they're great players and great people," Murphy said of her playing partners. "It was definitely a learning experience for me."

Karen Dufault of Montaup Country Club finished tied for seventh with an 83, a score with which she was pleased but admitted there is much room for improvement. She birdied 4, 10 and 13 but made four double-bogies and one triple.

"Overall, 83 I'm pleased with. I obviously have the potential to shoot much better than that," said Dufault, who found the hard greens the most troublesome on the four par-3s. "The potential to shoot in the 70s was there. One of these days I'll finally get it all together."

Nancy Diemoz of Montaup made two double bogies and one triple on her way to a 15-over 86.

Former Rogers High School principal and Green Valley member Victoria Johnson was in the first B Division group to tee off, along with Jeanne Oliveira and Dee Bernstrom of Montaup. Johnson shot 87 to lead that group as Oliveira shot 96 and Bernstrom had 103 but Johnson did not believe her 87 would stand up as the top score in B Division. With 19 golfers finished, however, 87 was still the lowest on the leaderboard.

"I don't think it's going to last. There are a lot of good girls out there still," Johnson said after her round.

As it turned out, only one girl was better. Barbara Charles recorded an 85 to take first in the B Division while Johnson settled for second.

"If it weren't for putts I would have done very well," Johnson said. "I couldn't read them or the speed was wrong or I'd be going right at the hole and it would lip out and roll about four feet beyond (the hole). I hit some really good drives and some really good sand shots."

Valerie Tessier of Alpine won the C Division with a 94 and Montaup's Edie Cabral was second with a 98.