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Sports

DiVincentis Aims to End Junior PGA Season on a High Note

Coginchaug senior will compete against top players this weekend in East Haddam.

Liz DiVincentis hopes to add another feather in her golf cap this Sunday.

The 16-year old Durham resident is ranked eighth in the Connecticut Section PGA Junior Golf Tour and will compete against the Tour's top 20 players in the Jack Kelly Junior Tournament of Champions at the Fox Hopyard Golf Club in East Haddam. After claiming the CT PGA Junior Golf Association Player of the Year Award for the past two years and posting strong results in a more competitive league this summer, DiVincentis wants add a finishing touch to her season by grabbing an elusive first-place finish at the Jack Kelly Tournament.

“I haven't won it and I really want to this year because it would be a cool tournament to win,” DiVincentis said. “It is the end of the year tournament, so everyone wants to win it and it is also the one major tournament on the Tour besides the Junior Connecticut PGA Championship that gets you into the National Junior PGA Tournament.”

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The Tour's top girls should take note of DiVincentis' desire for the Jack Kelly title. Every golf season she sets goals and consistently meets them. After finishing in fifth place for the 2007-08 CT PGA Junior Golf Tour, DiVincentis made it her mission to win the Player of the Year the following year. She not only won the award in the 2008-09 season, she then surprised even herself by blowing away the field the following year to repeat.

“Winning Player of the Year was one of my big goals and something I wanted to do for myself,” she said. “A couple of my friends including [two-time Player of the Year winner] Elizabeth Monty had won it and I really looked up to her. She was kind of a mentor, so it was important for me to win it.”

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The consecutive top player titles had DiVincentis focusing on the larger American Junior Golf Association Tour (AJGA) this season. She posted first-place finishes at the Junior PGA's 18-Hole Ellington Ridge Camera Memorial in June and 18-Hole Fairview Farm Junior Classic in July to secure a top-10 spot on the Tour, but spent most of her summer looking for a strong showing in the competitive AJGA, which pulls in some of the best national and international junior golfers.

DiVincentis achieved one of her season goals with a top-five score in the second round of the AJGA's Deutsche Bank Partners For Charity Junior Shoot Out in Plymouth, MA in July. She finished the tournament tied for sixth.

Win or lose, DiVincentis said she will still enjoy the Jack Kelly tournament because of the camaraderie between players on the Tour. A member of the CT Junior PGA since age 11, DiVincentis said the association enabled her to meet friends and role models that helped her grow her game.

“I've only been able to play a few tournaments on the Junior PGA this season because I've been focusing on the AJGA, but it is always fun to play with the new girls and help them along,” she said. “I remember when I started at 11 and was playing in tournaments and everyone was looking up to Liz Monty because she was so good. I want to kind of be that figure for the younger girls who are playing on the Tour.”

Accidental beginnings

While the CT Junior PGA helped her hone her game, DiVincentis' start with golf relied a little bit on destiny.

When she was around 9 years old, DiVincentis was forced to go the golf course by her avid golfer father, Al, while her mother took her brother out for the afternoon. Though she complained about having to go, DiVincentis fell in love with the sport on practically her first hit and she soon found herself accompanying her father on his frequent trips to the course and the range.

“Golf was fun to play, but it is always good to find a way to spend time with your family and golf was a good way to spend time with my dad. It is something we can do together,” she said.

The competitive, yet encouraging setting of the CT Junior PGA hooked DiVincentis on the sport and a desire to be like her friend and mentor Elizabeth Monty of East Granby led her to the top of the Tour.

DiVincentis brings that same love for the game and encouraging spirit to the boys golf team at Coginchaug Regional High School. Since there aren't enough girl golfers at the school to field a team, DiVincentis played on the boys team for the past three seasons. She quickly became a leader on the team, winning medals at matches and being named co-captain for her upcoming senior year. This spring, she finished tied for third Shoreline Conference tournament.

“We have a young team this year, but they are all working hard to get better,” she said. “They also see that they have a girl on the team and they want to beat me, so I've given them some pointers to help improve their game and help the team overall.”

For her own game, DiVincentis plans to continue developing her strength off the tee and in the long irons while working to improve her chipping and putting to get her to the next level.

“I've been hitting a lot more greens which has been really helpful with my game because the courses at the next level are a lot harder and have longer distances,” she said. “You really need the distance and accuracy in your irons and long game to get onto the greens at the next level because the greens are really brutal, so you want to be on to have that two putt.”

DiVincentis plans to play golf in college and is holding off on announcing her college choice until November.

No matter what the future holds, DiVincentis plans to keep setting goals for her golf game and will be forever thankful for the start she received from the CT Junior PGA.

“It is a really good stepping stone for kids who are just starting. It is competitive, but it is still fun because you get to know a lot of new people and you get to meet a lot of new friends. I've made a ton of new friends and I still keep in very close contact with most of them and still play with them today.”

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