Anna Swan sweeps EDWGA majors with Stroke Play victory. How did other area golfers do?

NORTH EAST — The EDWGA Stroke Play Tournament’s championship trophy changed hands, if not households, on Sunday.

Anna Swan completed a season sweep of the association’s majors with her second of two victories at Lake View Country Club. The North East senior, with a closing round of 1-under par 71, finished the 36-hole event at 6-over 150.

Swan won the tournament outright for the first time. She and older sister Lydia Swan were declared co-champions of the 2021 Stroke Play that was held at Downing Golf Course.

Lydia Swan also was the tournament’s outright titlist in 2018, 2020 and 2022. The former PIAA Class 2A girls individual and team gold medalist, who leaves Monday for her sophomore year at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tied for second with Mercyhurst Prep graduate and Gannon University senior Sarah White.

Each finished at 9-over 150.

Anna Swan recorded four birdies Sunday, when she posted the tournament’s lone red-number round. She didn't know what her low score for 18 was at Lake View, whose course she’s competed on nearly half her life.

Not that it personally mattered Sunday.

“Honestly, my only intention was to come out and play better than I did (Saturday),” Anna Swan said. “I was disappointed with how I played in my round (of 79). I wasn’t thinking about leading or winning until the 18th (hole).”

Anna Swan, who won last month’s EDWGA Match Play Tournament at Lake View, also became the first female who swept its majors since Steph Urban in 2019.

“I wasn’t thinking about that either,” Swan said, “but it’s really cool.”

Urban has won eight majors since her initial Match Play title in 2009. The North East resident, who recorded a 79 on Sunday, finished fourth at 161.

‘Motherly instincts coming out’

The Swan sisters were in the lone group that concluded their first round ahead of Saturday’s late afternoon thunderstorm at Lake View.

The club’s weather siren wailed at 4:25 p.m., and all tournament play was suspended until Sunday morning.

Lydia Swan and White, with 78s, were tied for first place when the first round officially ended. Each followed with second rounds of 3-over 75, but they weren’t enough to counter Anna Swan’s 71.

“I came out really hot with birdies on the first two holes,” White said, “but after that I just stalled. There were a few bogeys sprinkled in with quite a lot of pars. I just didn’t get super close to the holes on my approach shots.”

Although White didn’t win this weekend’s Stroke Play competition, she did top the unofficial intersquad event within it. Her score was the lowest among six golfers who will drive, chip and putt when the Gannon women’s team starts its new season Sept. 11-12 at the Golden Eagle Fall Invitational in Charleston, West Virginia.

White encouraged her soon-to-be teammates, who include McDowell graduate Zoey McClain, to enter the Stroke Play as a way to bond ahead of her last season of collegiate action.

“First of all, I can’t even believe I’m a senior,” White said. “I feel like I was just at Mercyhurst yesterday. I feel like my motherly instincts are coming out now for my (younger) teammates. I care about them a lot and I want to see them do really great things this year.”

After White, McClain was second on Gannon’s tournament scoreboard. The sophomore, at 167, finished sixth in the Stroke Play’s final standings.

Double debuts for Erhartic

Fairview freshman Moira Erhartic, in her Stroke Play debut, had a 36-hole gross total of 175.

However, her performance was good enough for first place in net scoring at 147.

“I wasn’t really expecting this,” Erhartic said. “The first (round) was a little rough. Not too rough, but rough. I was a little bit nervous, but then I calmed down.”

Erhartic teed off at Lake View two days after her varsity debut with the Tigers. It occurred last Thursday at the Happy Valley Invitational, a significant PIAA season-opening event at Penn State University’s Blue and White Courses.

Erhartic and sophomore teammate Abby Benz each shot 88. Better, though, was they helped the Tigers to second place in the tournament’s Class 2A girls team standings.

District 10 claimed the top three spots in that field thanks to Hickory, Fairview and Mercyhurst.

“We were pretty happy with that,” Erhartic said.

And finally …

Erie’s formal competitive golf season will wrap with next weekend’s 103rd annual EDGA Marquette Savings Bank Amateur Tournament. The 54-hole event begins Friday at Fairview Township’s Lake Shore Country Club.

The cut to the top 24, with ties, is after 36 holes.

Connor Bennink is the tournament’s two-time defending champ. EDGA president Dave Hewett couldn’t be reached Sunday to determine if the former Gannon golfer, who transferred to Division I Coastal Carolina University last season, has entered.

More: What surprise did Anna Swan reveal after beating her sister in the EDWGA Match Play final?

EDWGA results

Results for the EDWGA Stroke Play Tournament at North East’s Lake View Country Club:

Anna Swan 79-71-150

Lydia Swan 78-75-153

Sarah White 78-75-153

Steph Urban 82-79-161

Kathy Lynch 84-82-166

Zoey McClain 83-84-167

Katie Caryl  81-91-172

Gail Heubel 86-86-172

Samantha Turk 84-90-174

Emily Donahue 88-87-175

Moira Erhartic 89-86-175

Terry DeSanto 95-91-186

Kathy Hobson 95-94-189

Jillian Gambino 100-90-190

Taylor Urban 95-98-193

Chris Willey 98-95-193

Lia Macek 98-102-200

Marlene Smith 104-101-205

Mary Ann Brabender 112-98-210

Beth Sesler 107-109-216

Jen Shorts 112-110-222

Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @ETNcopper.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Anna Swan ends older sister's reign as EDWGA Stroke Play champion