Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cole made the most of it Thursday at Hunting Hills Country Club, shooting a 3-over-par 75 to earn a three-shot victory over Kathy Dodd in the Roanoke Valley Women's Golf Association City-County championship.
``This definitely makes my summer,'' Cole said after her fourth local title, including two Roanoke Valley Hall of Fame victories.
Cole did not have any vacation remaining this year when she learned the women's Hall of Fame had been moved from its customary weekend dates to the middle of the week. That prevented her from playing and prompted an impassioned letter to Hall of Fame organizers.
``I don't have the luxury of a nine-month-a-year job,'' said Cole, a supervisor with UPS, ``but I can't allow myself to hold a grudge against the Hall of Fame. Hopefully, changes will be made. A couple of members approached me and said it would be discussed.''
Cole, 42, could sense her game approaching peak form in the weeks leading to the City-County tournament and did not lose her focus despite a quintuple-bogey 9 on the ninth hole of the first round Tuesday.
She led by as many as four shots Thursday before a bogey at No.18, although Dodd was tied with her through eight holes.
The tournament turned at No.9, where Dodd took a triple-bogey 7 that included two putts from 11/2 inches.
``I went to backhand the ball into the hole,'' she said, ``but I never hit the ball with the putter. I hit the ground in back of the ball and the ball moved, so I had to count it as a stroke. If I had lost by one stroke, it would have been Suicide Hill for me.
``All I can say is, `Never again.'''
Cole, who finished at 228, never saw her lead dip under two shots from that point. First-round leader Dot Bolling was a distant third at 235, followed by Marilyn Bussey at 236.
After her first-round bobble, Cole put on a display of precision golf that made it seem as if she should win all the time.
``She has the talent to be a great player,'' Dodd said. ``Unfortunately, like a lot of us, she has to work for a living. But there were a couple of years there where she worked hard on her game and that's stuck with her.''
Still, there are times when Cole struggles. She finished 30th in the women's 54-hole state championship, when she had rounds of 84-85-86 at Hidden Valley.
``I've been trying to put that out of my mind,'' she said.
Cole, once a teaching professional at Countryside, said she rarely plays more than once a week. She is too tired when she gets home to hit balls, although she recently has been playing 36 holes on Saturdays.
On a typical workday, Cole rises at 5 a.m. and she invariably works more than 40 hours a week.
``If I didn't have to work and could stay home or play golf, I think I could be competitive with anybody in the state,'' said Cole, a runner-up in the 1992 Virginia Women's Amateur. ``I try to put things in perspective and realize that I can't play well all the time.''
by CNB