DEDHAM, Mass. – For a golfer who birdied the first hole to jump out in front and never trailed, Rebecca Skoler seemingly teetering on the edge the entire way against Molly Smith in the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur championship Friday morning at Dedham Country & Polo Club.
OK, so it’s not exactly the way she would have preferred it – I mean, who wouldn’t love to coast? – but the senior-to-be at the University of Virginia was certainly up to the challenge of saving pars with a short game that is her best friend on the golf course.
“Let’s face it, the game has been a struggle the last few years with my ball-striking,” said Skoler, who plays out of Pine Brook CC in Weston. “I’ve had to rely on my short game and my putting to stay competitive.”
We have to take her word on that, but here’s another side to that story: Let’s face it, this 2-and-1 victory, which became official when Skoler made yet another up-and-down, at DCCP’s par-3 17th hole, was perhaps in the cards given that each of her last two appearances in this tournament had ended disappointingly to a Smith girl.