FAIRHOPE, Alabama – Fairhope’s Virginia Green and defending county medalist Elaine Wood of Spanish Fort finished even at 74 strokes each after 18 holes of play, then battled for the 2013 Baldwin County individual golf title through three more playoff holes before Green made par while Wood went one over on No. 18 at Quail Creek Monday.

Green led the Lady Pirates to claim the county team championship as well with a 248 team best to finish under the SF Lady Toro’s 313 and Baldwin County High’s 339. It was the Lady Pirates’ seventh county golf championship in the last eight years under head coach David Stapleton.

Fairhope’s girls remain undefeated with the win. Jasmine Wallace shot an 85 and Sidney White an 89 for the Pirates’ winning 248. Following Wood, Spanish Fort was also led by Bailey Byrne’s 104 and Sarah Gaston’s 135. The Lady Tigers of Baldwin County finished third in the tournament with a 91 by Megan Duncan, a 118 by Claire Stewart and a 130 turned in by Allison Blackmon.

Led by Morgan Cannon (101), Daphne’s Lady Trojans were fourth (344) followed by Robertsdale’s Lady Golden Bears (349)—Jewels Ontiveros (104); Foley’s Lady Lions (361)— Lauryn Mummah (113) and Gulf Shores’ Lady Dolphins (369)—led by Abby Grimes (119) to complete the team and team leader scores.

The 248 was the best Fairhope girls score ever posted by a Lady Pirate team in the annual Baldwin County Tournament at Quail Creek Stapleton said.

“Being able to get under 250 on this course is a real accomplishment, too, for any high-school girls team,” he added. “It’s got these narrow fairways and tight turns and that requires a lot of discipline and focus over 18 holes. I’m proud of all the girls today, they stayed focused and played as a team all day. We’re playing well and consistently and I hope it bodes well for us for the playoffs. The (individual) playoff between these two (Green and Wood) ladies—not too surprising the way they have been playing. Elaine is one of the best and Virginia is playing so far beyond her age and just getting better. But they are also great teammates and put their teams first. Just outstanding young ladies in every respect. I’ve been fortunate through the years to have some outstanding kids through here who were outstanding people, not just athletes.”

Green and Wood started their playoff on the Par-4 ninth hole and remained tied, moved to the Par-4 10th hole where they each made par again before taking on the Par-5 No. 18. Green over shot the pin on her approach and after a chip to the green, left herself a 12-footer for birdie. Meanwhile Wood stayed too far left off the tee and needed to wedge from a bunker to the green on her third shot. She then faced a 25-footer for birdie. Green came within six inches of the hole for birdie, then tapped in for par. Wood made a nice roll on the long uphill birdie track, but was about four feet short. She then missed the par putt just wide by about an inch.

“I was feeling pretty good in the playoff,” said Green, an eighth grader who won the girls 6A section match last year. “Not really nervous. I just tried to keep it in the middle of the fairway, get on the green and then make my putts. Elaine is a really good player and this is a hard course for me so I just kept it down the middle, down the middle.”

Wood, a senior and University of Montevallo golf signee, said No. 18 had given her trouble earlier in the day but she has birdied it before.

"I knew we could both birdie it if we got to the green in two so I just wanted to keep it in the fairway for my approach," she said. "But then, had a tough lie to play off the driver. It’s usually an easy birdie hole for me, but today I struggled with it. Just goes like that sometimes. But, congratulations to Fairhope and Virginia and my teammates, too. They played well today and I know Virginia works really hard. It was fun to be in a playoff like that and I enjoyed it. It’s exciting. Just need to keep working, though."