If anyone’s going to beat Amelia Cobb on Wednesday in the final round of the First Coast Women’s Amateur, they’re going to have to press the issue.
Because Cobb, a Daytona Beach Seabreeze graduate and incoming freshman at Florida Atlantic, doesn’t look as if she’s going to help anyone out.
It’s not that she pitched a perfect game on Tuesday at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra. But she was rock-solid with 18 pars for a 72, and a two-round total of 1-over-par 145 to lead Violet Robbins (74), who will begin playing at Rollins College next month, by three shots.
Robbins, a Fairfield, Conn., resident who played two seasons at Bolles, played her last 12 holes 1-under, with no bogeys.
Three college players, Kate Bibby (Missouri) of St. Augustine, Sloane Siebert (Flagler) of Keystone Heights and Kaitlyn Washburn (University of North Florida) of Scituate, Mass., are tied for third at 5-over. Bibby (72) bogeyed Nos. 6 and 7 after getting within two of the lead, Washburn was 2-under over her last 11 holes, without a bogey, and Siebert bogeyed Nos. 1 and 4 to fall back.
Cobb hasn’t made a bogey in 32 holes
Cobb hit every green at the tricky Arnold Palmer-designed course and two-putted every green for par. While she lamented her lack of birdies, she also said that her game — based more on precision than power — lent itself to the type of golf she’s playing.
“I try to keep it close to par, play it safe,” said Cobb, who posted four consecutive top-10 finishes in the FHSAA state tournament while at Seabreeze. “I’m not really a long hitter. I usually get get to the par-5s in two so I try to stick it close and make birdies where I can.”
Cobb’s par-streak on the second round extended a run of 32 consecutive bogey-free holes. Since she bogeyed two of her first four holes in the first round on Monday, she’s made 31 pars and one birdie.
Cobb said caution has been the order of the day for her because of the deceptive putting surfaces — pure, but in disguise.
“They look fast from the fairway but they’re actually a little slow,” she said. “You want to hit the shots soft but sometimes they come up short.”
Cobb is part of FAU’s 2024 recruiting class
Cobb, Maddie Rathjen (Beachside High) and Nancy Cox (Ponte Vedra) are part of the 2024 recruiting class at FAU by coach Heather Bowie Young, an LPGA winner and the 1997 NCAA individual champion at Texas.
Rathjen led Beachside to the Class 2A state championship and Cox is a two-time Florida Times-Union Player of the Year.
“Coach Young was my favorite coach during recruiting and she wants to build a strong program,” Cobb said. “She knows how to help you on and off the course and I really like that about her.”
Caldabaugh, McElreath seeking more hardware
Tama Caldabaugh, who is playing at her home course, is two shots behind Suzi Spotleson in the Senior Division. Spotleson (77) is 4-over 148 and Caldabaugh, who has won her division four times, is 150.
Mary Helen McElreath (80) leads Melissa Gotfredson and Janice Wilson by three shots in the Super-Senior Division. McElreath is trying to win her division for the third year in a row.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Amelia Cobb on 32-hole bogey-free streak to lead First Coast Women’s Amateur
