Seville playoff for second highlights Edison Invite

HURON — Annabelle Seville and Kennedy Thacker looked like they could've played golf till the sun went down Wednesday at Thunderbird Hills South. Edison's Seville and Perrysburg's Thacker both shot 78 and tied for second place among individuals at the Edison Invitational. The two juniors were then sent to No. 8 for a playoff to determine the tournament runner-up. Six holes later — after both girls recorded six straight pars — Edison coach Shayne Fischer asked them if they wanted to play a seventh playoff hole or share second place. After 24 holes and nearly eight hours on the course — the day started with an 8 a.m. shotgun start — Seville and Thacker were happy to call it a draw. There was no debate, either. "We both jumped in our carts," Seville said. "We were going back and forth and we were both pretty tired. I didn't mind; we both earned it. "We were both playing consistent golf. We were right up on each other's tails almost every hole. Same drives, same second shots. That's how it was." Seville and Thacker both parred Nos. 8 and 9 twice in the playoff — Seville had a nice up-and-down on the fourth playoff hole — before each player was issued a riding cart to speed things along. They both carded 3s on the par-3 No. 7 hole and before their third playoff pars on the par-4 eighth hole. After the playoff was declared a draw, Seville and Thacker posed for a quick photo and considered their evening plans. "I'm really tired and my legs hurt," Seville said. "I'll probably just take a bath and then go to bed." She also was considering a trip to the Erie County Fair. It was the second straight year that Seville was runner-up at the invite. She shot an 80 last year before winning a quick one-hole playoff to secure second place. "I like doing (playoffs) because you never know in the future when it's meaningful, like trying to get to state or district," Fischer said. "It helped Annabelle last year when we did this because she did get into a couple playoffs." Fischer had no problem ending the playoff after six steady holes, though. "I kinda thought the girls deserved to share it after six playoff holes — and we both have 18-hole matches (Thursday)," he said. "I was going to let them play one more playoff hole, but they decided to share it." Seville's strong round led the Chargers to a third-place team finish in the 17-team field that included many big schools. Edison shot a 374, finishing behind only Avon Lake (346) and Avon (363). Sophomore Ella Rogers shot an 87 for Edison. Junior Leah Sharp (98) and freshman Averi Wolf (111) rounded out Edison's scorecard. "I'm very proud of our girls for finishing third," Fischer said. "A lot of our girls really put a lot of time in during the offseason. They deserve the success they're having early." Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic junior Ryan Dickman shot a 76 to earn medalist honors for the second straight year. The par-72 layout played to about 5,000 yards. Bellevue tied Norwalk for 10th place at 411. Evelyn Welschenbach (92) and Adyson Lepley (99) broke 100 for the Truckers. Emerson Ulery and Catherine Beamer each shot a 110. For St. Paul (477), Aubrey Dilger led the way with a 108. She was followed by Alia Bogard (117), Jillian Weilnau (124) and Annabelle Cooper (128).