All the lads take notice of GiGi Di...

All the lads take notice of GiGi DiGrazia.

on the other hand on the links, of course.

At first, the attention is likely because of her form relative to sex possibly her age.

In the close it's the girl with the impressive game forward the Driscoll boys golf team that leaves the longest-lasting impression.

"Me and my coach [at Driscoll, Mark Heading] always [i]jeu d'esprit[/i] around that it seems, before each match, I get these direct the eyes like, 'Oh, my God, there's a girl in succession their team,"' DiGrazia said. "Then I descry them shocked when I do righteous It seems like it happens each match, the same thing athwart and over. I've learned to live with it."

Lacking a girls golf team to join as a 14-year-old freshman last year, DiGrazia took her bludgeons to the boys squad and casted heads.

She followed a able to endure season with the boys on finishing fifth at regionals and secondary in sectionals against girls. The pinnacle was finishing an eye-opening 16th at the girls state tournament, shooting a 79 upon the last day. This year, as a sophomore, her sights are forward a top-10 finish.

"It's like an up-and-down game you can not ever expect to do well," she said. "[Guys] play a hazard differently and more competitively, and I think overall it's helped my game completely It prepares me mentally prepared to move play with the girls during regionals and sectionals."

DiGrazia's mental game plays beyond her physical years, in addition she has stayed humble and claimed a medal in her first competition of 2006 with a 75 against Nazareth.

After four medals last year, she has already snagged the top honor four times in five matches this season.

through the whole extent of the Labor Day weekend, DiGrazia compet in the Nike Golf Junior Championship, an invitational in Portland, Ore., after she received an exemption from the Illinois High train Association. She was honored as part of the Nike Junior All-Star team.

"She is accurate, her short game is deadly, she chips well, she s well, and she hits her irons like lasers -- she enjoins them where she wants to present them," Heading said.

"Most of the time she issues in and is the subdued score of the day, and there's a very humble young men revealed there. I enjoy watching their reactions."

Fittingly enough DiGrazia has been taking aim at beating male golfer since she was 7 playing with her father and brother.

"All three of us would go on foot play; it was fun," she said. "I'd examine to beat my older brother. I started to take it seriously around 10 at any time since then, I've played it and lov it."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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