LAKE CARROLL — Winning a golf event can mean more than just finishing with the fewest strokes on the scorecard.
For some golfers, they’ve already won before they’ve even taken their first swing. That’s because they simply enjoy just getting out on the greens for a game of golf, meeting up with old friends, rising to the challenge, and taking part in a familiar event.
For many, that’s what Lake Carroll’s Ladies Club Championship is all about.
This year’s event on August 8 and 9 saw one winner add to her string of victories, and another achieve a win for the first time. Deb Scheidegger was the event’s gross score champion for the third year in a row, shooting back-to-back days of 84 and 87. Sandy Sorensen added her name to the list of champions for the first time, with net scores of 70 and 77.
One’s gross score is the total number of actual strokes shot. Net score adjusts the gross total by subtracting the player’s handicap, giving Sorensen the largest scoring adjustment in the field.
“I’ve never won before, and this is my first time actually competing well,” Sorensen said. “I feel really good. I played well [Saturday], then I played well on the front nine, so three-quarters of the thing was okay. I’ve been here forever and I don’t play a lot of these since I don’t like competition, but this was fun to win.”
Concentration worked well for Sorensen’s game. “If I could just concentrate, and stay out of trouble,” she said.
Scheidegger’s numbers weren’t necessarily spectacular, she said, but they were enough to keep her ahead of the field once again.
“It was steady,” Scheidegger said. “It wasn’t my best game, but still it was good enough. We all just have fun playing with each other and having a good time.”
Last year’s event lasted only one day due to inclement weather during the second day, and it threatened to do the same again this year. Rain almost truncated this year’s second day, but the droplets held off until the lead group reached the 16th hole, about a half-hour before the event’s conclusion.
Both champions from last year, Scheidegger and DeCrane, improved this year upon last year’s scores.
Sorensen had the best one-day net score among the field with a 70 in her first day. She wasn’t entirely happy with shooting seven more on day two, and admitted she was waiting for the day to be over quickly, depending on the weather.
“I was praying for rain,” Sorensen said. “I did so well yesterday.”
Tracey DeCrane took runner-up in both scoring categories with days of 94 and 95 gross and 75 and 76 net. Dorothy Schrems had the biggest improvement among golfers upon her first day, improving from a first day score of 105 gross and 83 net to 95 gross and 73 net, and placed third in both categories. Also competing were Sheri Moutrey (210 gross, 164 net along two days), Angie Thompson (202, 164) and Jamie Melville (205, 171) – who was the only other competitor aside from Schrems who improved upon her first-day scores.
The Ladies event had long been held on the same day as the annual Mens event. That changed in 2024 when the longtime Women’s Lincoln Highway event, which several of the women also compete in, was moved and conflicted with the usual Club Championship weekend. As a result, the Ladies event was moved to its own weekend after the Lincoln Highway.
The switch to its own weekend also came with the change in how winners were awarded. Previously, net scoring determined the Ladies club champion. Some of the women wished to make the distinction of the Club Champion similar to that of the men, who use gross scoring.
“[Deb] is a true Club Champion,” Sorensen said.
The weekend saw seven women compete, filling a threesome and a foursome ahead of the course’s usual business. Scheidegger still misses the camaraderie of when the women’s event was held alongside the men’s, she said, when the women could finish early and watch the men come in, including some of their husbands.
“I wish we could do it the same week as the men because it’s so fun,” Scheidegger said. “I liked it better because we would tee off first and watch the guys come in.”
The separate weekend, though, has given the women their own championship and a format that rewards both low gross and low net scores.
“I wish more people would play in it,” Scheidegger said. “I like that they’ve changed it now to having a low gross and a low net. It makes it competitive for both groups.”
Sorenson added to her golf accolades later in the month by teaming with her husband Bruce to win Lake Carroll’s annual Mr. and Mrs. Club Championship on Aug. 30.
“More people will play as long as it’s gross and net,” Sorensen said. “With the net, most people will have a chance.”