- April 26, 2024
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Seabreeze High School's Amelia Cobb was happy with her round. Matanzas' Alexandra Gazzoli was not.
They both shot 1-under-par 71 to tie for first place in the Volusia-Flagler Girls Golf Championship on Sept. 26 at the Daytona Golf Club North Course. But Gazzoli won the title on a tie-breaker — a lower back-nine score.
However, Cobb got to take home another prize — the team championship with her Sandcrab teammates.
Three Seabreeze golfers finished among the top six to be named to the All-Area team. Riley Fletcher finished third overall with a 1-over 73, while Hannah Ashton was one of three golfers to shoot 75. The Sandcrabs shot 308 as a team to beat second-place Father Lopez by 23 strokes.
With the win, Seabreeze avenged a second-place finish to Father Lopez in the Nine-Hole Challenge on Sept. 14 at Crane Lakes.
"I'm very happy. This is actually my first time I've ever played the North Course. Eden (Tsouklaris of Father Lopez) helped me navigate, because I've never seen the course."
— AMELIA COBB, Seabreeze golfer
"I'm very happy," Cobb said. "This is actually my first time I've ever played the North Course. Eden (Tsouklaris of Father Lopez), the girl I was playing with, helped me navigate, because I've never seen the course."
The junior said her first birdie of the day — on the par-5 fourth hole — helped put her in a groove.
Gazzoli, who had only played the front nine previously on the North Course, termed her round as "horrible," but she realized she might have been overstating. She had three bogeys and four birdies on the day and shot 37-34.
"I did hit a fair amount of greens," she said. "But my putting once again let me down. Too many three-putts."
Gazzoli placed second at the Class 2A state championships last year with a 144, while Cobb finished third, two strokes behind the Matanzas golfer.
"I want to win states this year," Cobb said. "I feel this is my year. Me and Alexandra have the biggest rivalry. I told her this is my year. She can have it another time."
Like next year, when the two golfers will be seniors?
"Maybe, if I let her," Cobb joked.
"Amelia and Alexandra are good friends," Seabreeze coach Cory Flickinger said. "When they get paired up together they push each other."
The Sandcrabs finished fourth at states last year. As much as Cobb would like to win the individual title, she would prefer to be part of a team championship.
"She's our team leader. She's cheering on all the girls, high-fiving everybody," Flickinger said. "She's helping out all of the girls too. As a coach you can say something, but are they retaining it? They listen to her, because she's in the same shoes as they are."
Tsouklaris, who lives in Flagler Beach, and Spruce Creek's Vanessa Perry also shot 75. With the tie-breakers, Perry finished fourth, Tsouklaris fifth and Howell sixth.
