47th Girls Amateur Championship |
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Cocca's Third Time The Charm Skaneateles, N.Y. – Bailey Cocca was awarded the coveted Betty Deeley Trophy following a 1-over-par performance and two-day total of 150. The Girls division encountered an entirely different story for this year’s champion. Bailey Cocca, of Shaker Ridge C.C., didn’t win the Girls title in her first year or even second year of competing like Gavin Hall was able to accomplish in the Boys field. However, Cocca consistently placed near the top-five on the leaderboard over the past two years as she continued to improve until her experience paid dividends today. “It means a lot to me to win this because I came so close the last two years,” says Cocca. In 2008, Cocca carded a 157 at Oneonta C.C. in the 46th Junior Girls event. She was a sixth place finisher in the 2007 campaign from Mark Twain following a 163 which remained just seven strokes shy of the leader. Cocca entered the final round trailing by four strokes over Paige Thompson. Yet, the Latham teenager never gave up despite a 3-over-par start on the front nine and a fourth bogey coming at the par-4 11th hole. She finished strong with a birdie-par-birdie-par-birdie close for a six-stroke improvement from the previous day at 1-over par. The rest of the field struggled with handling the course as she remained the only player to break 79 on the day. The three birdies on Cocca’s scorecard came at the short par-4 14th and the two par 5’s and Nos. 16 and 18. On the 14th, Cocca hit a driver to within 40 yards and then selected a 60-degree wedge which she precisely landed to within two feet for a tap in birdie. The par-5 16th measures 428-yard from the white tees so Cocca lined a drive down the fairway and had 180 yards in as she pushed a 5-wood right into the bunker. “I didn’t hit a great bunker shot and I left myself about twelve feet but I was able to make it,” says Cocca. “I hit my best shot of the day on 18,” says Cocca, who left herself 175 yards to the flag following that tee shot. She then hit a 4-hybrid to the back of the green to reach in two strokes and used just two strokes to register a birdie before she could shake hands with competitors Brooke Rohrbach, of Winged Foot G.C. and Ariana Gaeta, of Hidden Valley G.C. Cocca credits her successful round to her ability to stay relaxed and in control out on the course. “I was trying to keep my head together because I let it get away yesterday after hitting the ball out of bounds,” says Cocca. “Today I listened to my dad’s advice coming in and I actually was able to laugh off some of my mistakes. I would get mad at first, but then I just laughed it off.” This year’s Girls champion still has a busy summer before her sophomore year at Shaker High School. She arrived home last Thursday from Ohio at the PGA Junior event where she fired three rounds of 82-76-76 en route to making the cut in the top-30. Cocca plans to compete in one more AJGA event at the end of August before starting class again in the Fall. |
