Breaking News Bar

Breslin twins square off for medalist at SIRR tournament

  • Pinckneyville's Megan Breslin hits her tee shot on the second playoff hole Tuesday at the SIRR Conference girls golf tournament.

    Pinckneyville's Megan Breslin hits her tee shot on the second playoff hole Tuesday at the SIRR Conference girls golf tournament.
    All photos by Justin Walker















 
updated: 9/19/2018 5:33 AM

CARBONDALE -- Pinckneyville High School senior Megan Breslin had an extra item on her golf bag Tuesday that most players don't carry. It wasn't a special club or accessory; it was a full box of tissues.
Breslin had a bad cold and fever on Monday but toughed it out at school so she could play in the SIRR Conference Tournament -- if she had went home, like she admits she almost did, by school policy she would've had to miss the event.
So with that box of tissues as part of her bag, Breslin not only overcame her illness but was the Mississippi Division champion at the tough Hickory Ridge layout after winning a sudden-death playoff with twin sister Sarah.
Both sisters shot a ridiculously-low score of 75 in their rounds. Only one other player on the entire course, Ohio Division champion Madie Coakley of Massac County, carded a score in the 70s and Coakley shot a 79.
And those scores along with fellow senior Graci McDaniel and junior Kally Mayo also placing in the top five helped the Lady Panthers easily win the Mississippi side's team championship at 334. Nashville was a distant second at 424, followed by Anna-Jonesboro (426), Carterville (429) and Sparta (496) with Du Quoin bringing just three players.
McDaniel turned in a 91 and Mayo's personal best score of 93 took the fourth and fifth spots on the Mississippi side, with Carterville's Ali Lamb placing third at 84 between the four Pinckneyville players, who all earned all-conference medals.
Massac County won the Ohio side at 335 -- making Pinckneyville the unofficial overall winner, even though it's not scored that way -- led by Coakley and three other players in the top five, all with scores in the 80s.
The Breslin sisters, who played with Lamb and Nashville's Rylee White, went off in the day's first group at 8 a.m. on Hickory Ridge's back nine. They eventually got four holes ahead of the second group that teed off nine minutes later and were done well before anyone else.
The round didn't start or end great for the eventual champion, who hit into a group of trees on her first shot. Megan recovered and was 2-under at the turn, then birdied the course's first hole. Then at No. 9, she hit into a water hazard and finished tied with Sarah at 75.
When it was realized that a playoff would be necessary for the medalist honor, a long wait seemed probable but the tournament officials allowed the Breslins to go ahead and decide a winner between them.
On the first hole, Megan hit a "lucky" drop shot from a hill -- "lucky" was her own description -- and both players made par putts to bring on a second hole.
Megan went first and bombed a drive down the fairway, then Sarah lined up farther to the right and hit into the middle of a fairway bunker. Her attempt to blast out of the bunker nearly went into a ditch but found deep rough instead. Sarah blasted out of the rough to near the green, but was clearly a shot behind as Megan drilled her second shot with a 3-wood.
"I saw Sarah hit into the bunker," Megan said. "And after her sand shot, I just went for the green."
Megan needed two putts to finish out, meaning Sarah could force a third hole with her putt, but it drifted just past the hole and the winner was decided.
"I was thinking please miss it," Megan said. "I did not want to play any more holes. But I saw when she stroked it that it was to the left."
It was the first conference championship for either of the Breslin twins, who placed second or third behind Carterville's Avery Rea the past three years.
Megan was asked how she tamed the extremely hard Hickory Ridge course, which can frustrate even the most experienced players.
"I just try to slow down and hit in the fairways and keep it straight," she said. "I don't go for the green all the time. I try to lay it up and get an up and down. I definitely play it safe for sure."
Pinckneyville's next big challenge is the Carterville 1A Regional on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Crab Orchard Golf Club; the regional also includes Massac County. The top teams advance to the Centralia Sectional on Oct. 8.

 
 
Search Carbondale Times