Deadlock at King & Bear: UNF's Sarah Scott, Bartram Trail graduate Elizabeth Kondal tied in FCWA

Sarah Scott has had to exhibit extraordinary patience while waiting her turn with the University of North Florida women’s golf team.

Her solution to a season with only two starts, both as individuals: work hard and play harder in summer events.

Scott may have been getting some frustration out of her system on Wednesday when she birdied three holes in a row, and four of her first six on the back nine of the King & Bear in St. Augustine to grab the first-round lead in the First Coast Women’s Amateur at 2-under-par 70.

First Coast Women's Amateur leaderboard

First Coast Women's Amateur second-round groups, starting times

Elizabeth Kondal of St. Augustine, a Bartram Trail graduate just off a solid freshman season at Rollins College, rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th hole in the final group to tie Scott at 2-under. Kondal, the 2020 Times-Union high school girls golfer of the year, had a one-shot lead at the turn before bogeys at Nos. 10 and 15.

Scott and Kondal will be battling each other but also will have to fend off a combination of juniors and college players from the area in Thursday’s second round.

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They have a two-shot edge over Bartram Trail High graduate Kenzie Heba (72), a freshman at West Florida. Emma Wells, a Providence junior, is third at 2-over 74.

Three players are tied at 3-over 75, Bolles senior Madison Balaskiewicz, Fernandina Beach graduate Madelyn Campbell and Flagler College sophomore Sloane Siebert of Keystone Heights.

Wells, Balaskiewicz and Campbell are three of the six players in the field who were on the Times-Union's All-First Coast team.

Scott birdied her first hole but then struggled the rest of the front and turned at 2-over.

But she then rattled off birdie putts of 10 feet at No. 10, 8 feet at No. 11 and 3 feet at No. 12 to get back in red numbers. She swapped a bogey at the 15th with a two-putt birdie from 14 feet at the last.

“It’s been a struggle to compete and prove myself,” Scott said, referring to the challenge of cracking a veteran starting lineup at UNF that won the ASUN title, after she transferred from Daytona State College. “I’ve worked all my life to get to this point but all I can do is worry about myself.”

Scott has been working with Charlotta Sorenstam at the IMG Academy in Venice, mostly on her short game.

“I feel pretty good about my long game to the point where I work on that about 30 minutes and then chip and putt for two hours,” she said of her routine with the sister of World Golf Hall of Fame member Annika Sorenstam.

Kondal’s day was the reverse of Scott’s: she birdied her first two holes, then drained putts of 20 and 25 feet at Nos. 8 and 9 to turn at 3-under.

Kondal then fell back with her two bogeys and finished on a high note with her birdie at the last.

“Birdie is really a par on that hole,” she said of the reachable par-5 with a vast fairway width. “I’ve played this course a lot and always loved it. The back nine was a little frustrating but nothing major – just a couple of missed greens and missed putts.”

She’s also won at the King & Bear, a Hurricane Junior Tour event two years ago.

Kondal finished second on the Rollins women’s team in scoring average, tied for first with the most starts and rounds and posted four finishes among the top-25, with two top-10s.

One of the top-10s was a tie for third at the Slammer & Squire in a tournament hosted by Flagler College. Kondal finished her first college season with a ton of momentum as that finish at the World Golf Invitational started a streak of six events in which she tied for 27th or better.

She tied for eighth in the Sunshine State Conference tournament and tied for 27th in an NCAA regional.

“I really enjoyed the year,” she said. “There was a lot of travel involved and I wasn’t used to that. But I played better as the season went on.”

Danielle Davis of St. Simons Island, Ga., played her final eight holes at 1-under with no bogeys and took a one-shot lead over Therese Quinn in the senior division with a 71. Davis will have to hold off Quinn, Sarah Phillips-Durst (73), Tama Caldabaugh (74) and Kim Keyer-Scott (74), who have combined to win six of the last seven FCWA Senior division titles.

Mary Helen McElreath of Ponte Vedra Beach shot 75 to take a four-shot lead over Claudeen Lindberg of Amelia Island in the super-senior division.

The second round will be a shotgun start at 8 a.m.

First Coast Women’s Amateur

At King & Bear 

Amateur division

Sarah Scott 38-32--70

Elizabeth Kondal 33-37--70

Kenzie Heba 36-36--72

Emma Wells 38-36--74

Madelyn Campbell 39-36--75

Sloane Siebert 38-37--75

Madison Balaskiewicz 39-36--75

Jenna Fonda37-39--76

Amelia Cobb 38-38--76

Wyndom Burnett 42-34--76

Marissa Cardenas 40-37--77

Kylie Turner 41-36--77

Sofia Rivera 38-39--77

Grace Richards 39-39--78

Maddie Rathjen 39-40--79

Amanda Gerrish 39-40--79

Mackenzie McCormack 39-40--79

Nancy Cox 39-41--80

Danielle Dailey 42-38--80

Meaghan Gulliksen 42-39--81

Lisa Colee 41-40--81

Braelyn Pippin 43-38--81

Emily Tillo 43-39--82

Hannah Stevens 41-41--82

Gabriela Shortridge 41-42--83

Jody Clark 40-43--83

Ralienne Nacional 43-41--84

Elena Denny 42-43--85

Ashley Huffman 41-46--87

Annabelle Mozingo 41-46--87

Madison Melton 46-42--88

Alexandra Drum 42-45--87

Addy Vogt 47-42--89

Sophia Cavanaugh 52-55--107

Senior division 

Danielle Davis 36-35--71

Therese Quinn 36-36--72

Sarah Phillips-Durst 38-35--73

Tama Caldabaugh 37-37--74

Kim Keyer-Scott 36-38--74

Susie Keane 38-36--74

Christine Hunt 39-38--77

Jennifer Hawkins 38-39--77

Lin Culver 41-37--78

Shauna Snyder 40-38--78

Jeri Roche 41-40--81

Debbie Caruso 43-40--83

Kim Bruce 39-44--83

Karen Fisher 45-42--87

Renee Alter 42-46--88

Jane Rollinson 46-44--90

Lora Fioretti 49-43--92

Jennifer Eckensberger 43-50--93

Xiaolin Tian Jones 49-47--96

Janette Eddy 48-49--97

Super-senior division

Mary Helen McElreath 37-38--75

Claudeen Lindberg 40-39--79

Shan Giordano 43-41--84

Helen Short 43-44--87

Lori Collins 47-41--88

Carol Williams 42-42--84

Fran Clinkscales 47-43--90

Dot Peck 46-44--90

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sarah Scott, Elizabeth Kondal tied in First Coast Women's Amateur