Captains Juggle Many Hats In Preparation for Prestigious State Golf Silver Cup
For captains Debbie Love and Christine Soscia, putting together a winning lineup for the South team in the quest of a Silver Cup title is no easy task. The 20 women on the team are impressive in their own right. But, making sure they have the best two-person teams for the first two days of the event puts the spotlight on a lot of practice time, a little finesse and plenty of teamwork.–by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
The three-day tournament will be held Oct. 15-17, 2024, at Canyon Gate Country Club.
The South team is coming off a 21-19 victory in 2023. The tournament was held at Dayton Valley Country Club and saw the South snap a two-year losing streak. The victory was also the South’s first win at a northern venue since 2001.
Love said putting together lineups for the four-ball matchups, foursome matchups and the Silver Cup-ending singles matches is one of the toughest parts of being a captain.
“It is a challenge,” Love said. “We try to put players together whose games and personalities match. If you have a long-ball hitter, you defnintely want to pair that player with someone who has a good iron game…especially in the alternate shot where that iron player may hit 90 percent of the shots into the green.”
To that end, there have been plenty of practice sessions.
“We have veterans who have been here before but we also have rookies so we’re trying to make sure we’re ready with the best lineups we can put out there,” Love said. “And for a lot of the matches we’re going to pair a veteran with a rookie so the veteran can calm them down and keep everyone focused.”
Love also added with the team being chosen early, there are always problems that can arise.
“We’ve had a couple of injuries but we’re prepared with a backup plan in case the players don’t heal in time,” she said. “We’ll see if we have to change a few pairings but it’s just one more thing you have to deal with.”
While there have been plenty of practice sessions, there was also an event to let the players blow off a little steam.
“We went to Atomic Golf the other night and just hung out and socialized,” she said. “We had a couple of hours where the players just enjoyed themselves and got to know the other players a little better. We just went out, laughed and giggled, and had a fun night. It helped to calm the rookies down and we just had time to hang out and relax.”
But shortly, it will be game-time.
“There is absolutely a lot of pressure to keep the cup down here,” Love said. “No one ever wants to lose but, unfortunately, someone always does. But we have done the work to be successful this year.”
2024 Silver Cup South Qualifiers (Subject to change)
Gross: Brittany Bronson, Ronda Henderson, Regina Quintero, Ashley Vaughn, Monica Ledes, Brooke Hempel, Christina Brandt, Brenda Knott and Theresa Prospero. Alternates: Maria Foti and Debbie Love.
Net: Karen Bernard, Sarah Scott, Maureen Martin, Helen Welsh, Gabriele Buonacorsi, My Paulsen, Karen Huckabay, Anne Goodson, Leinani Yosaitis. Alternate: Sarah Kim.
2024 Silver Cup North Qualifiers (Subject to change)
Christy Atencio, Debbie Fuetsch, Ruthie Maxwell, Irene Reznick, Chandeni Sendall, Cindy Hall, Carol Colwell, Barrie Brodrick, Janice Campbell, Amy Nelson, Dana Chaiken, Tracy Smith, Sheri Bradley, Jean Driver, Lori Elliott, Sheri Peterson, Jeanmarie Walsh, Kris Lyman, Anita Mackey and Lori Marquette.
