Kelly Sim, Ridge H.S. Win In Njsiaa/njsga Tournament Of Champions

A pair of runner-up finishes in the Bergen County and North Jersey Non-Public sectional didn’t sit well with Kelly Sim of Holy Angels.

So the freshman from Edgewater, who was third in the 2014 NJSGA Junior Girls Championship, fired a 2-under-par 70 and won the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association/NJSGA Girls’ Tournament of Champions by one shot over three others on Thursday, May 21 at the 5,490-yard Cherry Valley Country Club in Montgomery.

Ridge High School in Basking Ridge won the team championship for a fifth straight year, by a margin of 314-334 over runner-up Red Bank Catholic. West Windsor Plainsboro-North (343) was third, followed by Holmdel (354) and Hunterdon Central (358).

Sim’s 70 bettered the 71s posted by Ami Gianchandani of Pingry, Allison Herring of Montgomery and freshman Aninu Ku of Ridge.

Rounding out the top 10 were Yeji Shin of Old Tappan (73), Allyson Wentworth of Phillipsburg (74), Megan McLean of Voorhees (75), EunWon Park of Tenafly (75), Nicole Kim of Bergen Tech (76) and Brynne Weideman of St. John Vianney (76).

Besides Ku, contributors to Ridge’s team championship included senior Monica Schumacher (79), sophomore Carolyn Wang (81) and senior Yunhee Kang (83).

“After what happened in my last two tournaments, I really, really wanted to win today. With any tournament I played in, I feel I can win, so it was very frustrating to finish second,” said Kim.

Kim built a two-stroke lead after 14 holes, then ran into trouble when her drive on the par-5 No. 15 hole found a steep ridge. After lipping out a putt, Kim recorded a double-bogey and fell into a tie for first place with Herring.

But Kim bounced back with her fifth birdie of the day on the par-4 No. 16.

Kim was happy with her driver as she found all but two fairways and she also reached 16 of 18 greens in regulation.

“That gave me a lot of birdie chances. I made a couple of 15 footers for birdie on the third and 13th holes,” she said. “I never saw the course, so I told myself to just play my best and see what happens. I was confident and nervous at the same time.”

The Ridge varsity program is only eight years old, but coach Siobhan Devlin has founded a powerhouse that included 17 girls in the program this year.

“It’s stressful, yet gratifying to win. I’m blessed to have so many dedicated golfers who work on their games year round,” Devlin said. “On the bus ride over, I told the girls they earned the right to be here through their hard work and to just take it one shot at a time.”