Freedom's Terese Romeo is Headed to States as Regional Champion

The stage was set at the Region 4 championships at Countryside Country Club. Freedom Patriot sophomore Terese Romeo walked onto the course with beautiful 78-degree weather, a dry course, and a shot at making states.

"I've been trying to get back to where I can build myself a cushion to where I can make mistakes," Romeo said.

Romeo went right to work building that cushion.

After going up three strokes on the third hole, she bogied and birdied the next two and cruised through the front nine just three strokes over par and several strokes ahead of the other golfers on her flight. Romeo said that the front nine was "a battle" and backed it up by gaining back all three strokes in the first eight holes of the back nine. She hit two birdies in a row and was dead even par heading into the last hole.

"I thought there was no way I could mess this up," Romeo said. "Then, 'shank,' I hit one off to the right and into a sand trap."

Romeo accomplished her original mission. She had a six-stroke lead heading into that last hole. It paid off as she took three strokes to get out of the sand trap, going three over par for the hole and for the course. It was just enough.

"Overall, I was pretty happy with the way I played and hit," Romeo said. "It was kind of what I wanted to accomplish."

Romeo finished with a 75, three strokes over a par 72 for the course. While her team finished sixth, Romeo claimed the regional title as an individual and stands a great chance to place at states next week.

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