Southampton's Elie Poremba wins Suffolk girls golf individual title 

While Elie Poremba is new to the Southampton golf team, she has plenty of experience within the sport.

The seventh-grader has been golfing since she was 4 years old, and she won the Suffolk girls golf individual championship on Tuesday in her first season.

“I’m just very proud of myself because I’ve never really done anything like this,” Poremba said. “I just think it’s cool that I made it this far.”

Poremba shot a 157 across two days of the Suffolk individual tournament at Middle Island Country Club, finishing at 15 over par. She finished three strokes ahead of the second- place finisher, Southampton teammate Ella Coady (160).

“I felt very prepared because we had a few practice rounds,” Poremba said. “And (Monday), I did very well. I just felt like I knew where everything was.”

Teeing off on the 18th hole, Poremba was steady. She didn’t try to do anything extra and just aimed to remain steady in her game plan.

Unlike most other sports, the coaches aren’t actively directing their players. Coach Edgar Franklin said the team takes notes during the practice rounds — where to place the ball, where to hit, what club to use.

Franklin calls it course management and said it’s an important skill. Franklin says Poremba is already good at it. She knows each spot around the course and when to take risks.

“When you’re in seventh grade and you win the county championship, it just shows that she really focused on the two days that we were here for a practice round,” Franklin said. “She studied her notes and did what she needed to do to win this match.”

Franklin has known Poremba since before she was born. He’s been friends with Poremba’s father since high school and has seen Poremba develop her golf game. Franklin says it’s a “privilege to watch (her) every day at practice and on a course. To actually witness what she could do on a golf course is just unbelievable,” Franklin said. “Words can’t describe the excitement that she brings to the game.”

Poremba qualified for the state tournament at The Edison Club in Rexford on June 3-5. Coady, Sophia Corso (Smithtown East), Melanie Hagen (Shoreham-Wading River), Ella Girard (Ward Melville), Palwasha Ali (Glenn), Caroline Stanzione (Half Hollow Hills West), Ally Karkota and Vanessa Fieschel (Sachem) also qualified for states.

Sachem won the Suffolk team championship and will play Great Neck District in the Long Island championship at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Bethpage State Park (Green).