There were 13 years when the traveling trophy for the Greater Rockford Women’s Classic resided in Mount Morris, but Ella Greenberg was determined not to see it move to Taiwan.
The Wu twins, NCAA Division I college golfers who are staying with a friend in Lake Forest this summer, were all over the leaderboard for three days, but Greenberg pulled away with a brilliant final round at Aldeen on Sunday to win by five strokes. She shot 72-77-67 over three days for a 2-over-par 216 total.
“It’s great that they are playing and it’s great that the field is getting stronger, but a Rockford-area girl winning it is still awesome,” said Greenberg, a three-time NIC-10 champ from Boylan who just finished her freshman season playing for the University of South Dakota. “Keeping the trophy in town was big.”
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Greenberg, who also won two years ago, took a narrow first-round lead with a 72 at Ingersoll. But she fell to fourth Saturday after shooting 77 at Sandy Hollow. She played the first three holes there in 4-over par and also took a triple-bogey on 17.
Sunday was the exact opposite. She birdied the first two holes at Aldeen and after a bogey on No. 4 — her only hiccup on the first 15 holes — she nearly made back-to-back eagles. She hit a 3-wood to three feet for eagle on No. 6, a 481-yard par-5 from the 5,782-yard white tees.
“I kind of chunked it,” Greenberg said of her 230-yard 3-wood. Good thing I did, or it would have been over (the green).”
She then drove into a green-side bunker on the 284-yard 7th hole, but blasted out to within a half-inch of the hole.
“I threw my hands up,” Greenberg said. “I thought it was in. Everyone thought it was in. But it hung there, just short.”
Greenberg’s younger sister, Eva Greenberg, held the second-round lead but fell out of contention with a 41 on the front nine. Annie Wu, a junior-to-be at Elon University in North Carolina, held a one-stroke lead until driving into the water on 11 and making double bogey. She also doubled 13. That gave Ella Greenberg a three-stroke lead over both Annie Wu and Tammy Wu, who plays Big Ten golf for Maryland.
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She led by four strokes after making birdie on No. 15. But looked briefly in trouble after pulling her drive into the woods on 16 and three-putting for bogey and rattling through the trees with her drive on 17. Most people thought she was out-of-bounds. Greenberg hit a provisional tee shot, but never lost faith that she would find her ball.
“I always end up hitting it left on 17 and I always end up staying in bounds, I don’t know how,” Greenberg said.
Her second shot also went into the trees. Greenberg estimates those two shots “hit at least seven trees” but it again stayed in bounds and she escaped with a bogey. That left her with a two-stroke lead going into the final hole. She finished with a birdie for 67 at Aldeen, while Annie Wu made bogey and Tammy Wu triple-bogey to fall into a tie for third. Eva Greenberg missed a short birdie putt that could have given her third place by herself.
“It was really fun to play with all the people who grew up here,” runner-up Annie Wu said. “They are all really nice. It was a cool experience. When I looked at the tournament spreadsheet for the location and saw there were three different courses, I thought I was reading the wrong information. But it was fun to experience three different courses around here.”
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Ella Greenberg wins second Women's City title, edges Taiwan twins with great final round
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