Prep girls golf: Summit’s Dalfonsi finds new role as a player-coach in final year

Published 9:30 pm Thursday, May 13, 2021

It was a shaky front nine Wednesday at Bend Golf Club for Summit’s Sophie Dalfonsi, who was playing in her first and final tournament of her senior season.

After shooting a 40 through the first nine holes, she rebounded and shot a 35 on the back nine to win the Bend Invitational with a score of 75, 11 strokes lower than the next-closest finisher.

“It was good just to come out and play for the last time in high school with all the other high school players,” said Dalfonsi. “The front nine I was all over the course, but the back nine I composed myself a little.”

A fourth-place finisher at the Class 6A state championships as a sophomore in 2019, the senior has spent the shortened golf season in a slightly different role than high school player.

With the season ending this weekend with a team scramble rather than a state championship, Dalfonsi has morphed into a player-coach as she gets ready for her college golf career at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

“It’s been fun,” she said. “I like coaching because I like helping players, helping them see what they can do and giving them pointers from what I have experienced during my junior golf career.”

At Wednesday’s tournament, Summit defeated Mountain View and Bend High with a combined team score of 329. Bend High finished second with 422 — led by Makai Kalberg’s 86. Mountain View took third with a team score of 426 — led by Thyra Alvatter, who shot a 93.

Dalfonsi’s move to a player-coach has been beneficial for Summit players and coaches alike.

“That drive and that work ethic has paid off until now,” said Summit coach Nate Kitt of his top player and quasi-assistant coach. “The girls are super inspired by watching her seamlessly and effortlessly do things that they could only dream of. The inspiration is the big thing. There are certain things that as a coach I can’t get through to the players like she can, because she relates on a totally different level.”

Helping out with coaching has proven to be beneficial to her game, Dalfonsi said. If she was going to teach or tell a player a tip, she would have to practice what she was preaching.

“Coaching allows you to step back and see what you can improve on. Because I’m not just coaching them, I’m coaching myself at the same time,” she said. “I’d say it has helped my mental game, and that tends to be an issue of mine.

“Talking to them and explaining to them what I have experienced has allowed me to realize that I need to evaluate how I think about the game,” Dalfonsi added.

With her high school career now in the rearview mirror, and a college golf career in front of her at Georgetown, playing her final 18 holes for Summit was a bit surreal.

“High school golf has been beneficial for me,” Dalfonsi said. “It has helped me as a player and a person so much. It is weird to be done and time to move to the next level. But I’m ready for it.”

Using her 3-wood on the par-4, 232-yard fifth hole at Bend Golf Club in the Bend Invitational on Wednesday, Summit’s Katrina Von Behren teed off and watched her ball roll into the cup for a hole-in-one.

In her more than 100 rounds of golf, it was the first time she found the bottom of the cup in a single swing.

“I’ve never had one before,” said Von Behren. “I hit it and it landed in front of the green and just rolled in. I was pretty shocked. I didn’t think it would go in at all.”

In his years of coaching, Summit coach Nate Kitt could not recall a high schooler acing a hole.

“I don’t think I’ve heard of a hole-in-one on any hole, let alone on a par 4,” Kitt said. “So that is the rarest of rare. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer gal and someone that puts in the time and the work.”

The shot helped Von Behren shoot a 77 through 18 holes, but the final 13 holes did not seem to matter.

“I was pretty excited the rest of the round,” Von Behren said. “I didn’t really care what happened the rest of the round because I got my first hole-in-one.”

—Brian Rathbone