Former Barrington star Lily Dessel captured her second straight RI Girls Junior Amateur Championship on Friday morning at Pawtucket Country Club.
Dessel beat Ledgemont’s Hanley Correia 6&4 to retain the trophy.
“It feels pretty huge. Going into this week I definitely wanted to win it. I didn’t start off too hot on Monday, but I built a lot of confidence starting Tuesday and carried it through the week. I’m really happy about this,” said Dessel after the round.
Over the last four years, just two girls have won the Junior Am – Olivia Williams and Dessel.
“Coming into the week, there was definitely a lot of pressure. Like when they announce you on the first tee as “defending champion,” it feels weird. It’s different also repeating or going to do it on the same course as last year, but also gives me confidence because I knew I did it on this course last year and I knew I could do it again,” added Dessel.
This week marks the end of Dessel’s junior career as she now turns her attention to college in a few weeks where she will be playing golf at Holy Cross.
Dessel’s Tournament
After carding an 80 in the stroke play qualifying round, Dessel entered the match play portion of the tournament as the number three seed.
But at the start of match play on Tuesday, Dessel found something.
“Just my short game. I mean, I work a lot at the beginning of the summer, spent hours on the putting green and I really felt like, since Tuesday, I could not miss. That was huge for me,” said Dessel.
In her four matches this week, Dessel did not reach the 15th hole once, rolling to a title.
“Monday I wasn’t happy with how I played, but I knew that wasn’t my usual and I knew what I could do. Since Tuesday, I think I shot even in my match, Wednesday around the same, Thursday I was like two or three under and today (Friday) might be around that,” said Dessel about her week.
Dessel will now look to carry this momentum and confidence into the collegiate fall season for the Crusaders.