Pleier Wins Coca-Cola Spartanburg County Women's Amateur Title
7/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate golfer and Dorman High School graduate Taylor Pleier shot her second-straight 77 to win the Coca-Cola Spartanburg County Women's Amateur Championship Tuesday afternoon at Three Pines Country Club in Woodruff, besting former high school teammate Taylor Weaver for the title.
"I didn't have a lot of expectations coming into the tournament," said Pleier. "I haven't played a lot of competitive golf this summer. I have just concentrated on practicing, working on my game and getting better. I am just really excited to have won the tournament today.
"I had a lot of fun playing with Taylor. It was a little tough knowing that she was a former teammate of mine. She and I have played a lot of golf together apart from when we were teammates at Dorman and she is a good friend. I had a feeling it might come down between us when the day started."
Pleier, who was an all-state selection at Dorman High School and helped lead the Lady Cavaliers to one of the top programs in the state, was one of three freshmen who led the Upstate women's golf team in 2010-11. She claimed one top 10 finish and was third on the team in stroke average.
Although she hadn't played much competitive golf this summer, instead spending most of the summer working on her game in preparation for the 2011-12 season at Upstate, she opened the County Amateur with a 77 on Monday and shared the first round lead with Weaver.
Pleier and Weaver were paired together in the final round on Tuesday. Pleier opened with a double bogey on the first hole, falling behind Weaver by two strokes. She trailed by as many as three strokes on the front nine before Weaver put together some bogeys and Pleier made some crucial par putts. By the 12th hole, the two were back even.
Pleier built a five-stroke lead over Weaver with three holes to play and held on to win by three strokes for her first County Amateur championship. She did not play in the tournament last year and finished fourth in both 2008 and 2009.
"I think my mental game really helped me win this tournament," said Pleier. "I didn't get discouraged over little things. If I missed a putt, I realized that it was a good putt. These greens are in great shape and rolled really, really fast. I was able to make some key five-foot putts for par. Anytime you can do that, it is going to give you confidence."
