At least four local ladies will tee it up in the inaugural Women’s Porter Cup from June 12th to the 14th at Niagara Falls Country Club. Invitations to the premier ball have been extended to Chelsea Dantonio, Michelle Hanes, Cat Peters and Rene Sobolewski, in addition to the finest female amateur golfers across the globe.
Chelsea Dantonio is a sophomore at Lancaster high school and won the Notre Dame tournament on the FCWT (Future Collegians World Tour) schedule in September. She has also competed on the Hurricane Junior and International Junior golf tours, recording top-ten finishes on both.
Michelle Hanes is a senior at Nardin Academy and plans to play college golf in the fall of 2013. She was the inaugural Erie County Amateur champion last summer and finished second in two IJGT (International Junior Golf Tour) events in Pennsylvania last fall.
Cat Peters lost a playoff at the Erie County Amateur to Hanes last summer, but it was about the only thing that the current University of Michigan freshman didn’t win. She became the first area golfer to win the state public high school championship as a senior at Clarence high school last spring. In her first year of college golf, Peters has played in 4 events for the Wolverines, recording a 78.8 stroke average. Her top finish to date is a tie for 29th place individually.
Easily the most decorated of local amateur golfers, Rene Sobolewski is currently a junior and three-year starter at Vanderbilt University. Her Commodores have ranked in the top ten of division one schools each year (currently 7th nationally) and Sobolewski has participated in two NCAA championships for the team. Rene tied for 13th at the recent Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate in Augusta, Georgia. She was the 2010 New York State women’s amateur champion and the Buffalo District player of the year in 2008. She represented New York State at the 2009 USGA State Team Championship.
There is a chance, according to tournament representative Steve Denn, that other local players might be extended invitations in the coming weeks. For more information, visit the official tournament site here.
