Note: This story was updated to correct the university Shannon Fraser will attend.

For the third year in a row, Saline’s Sarah Hoffman is the winner of the Ann Arbor City Golf Championship, and while her margin of victory of eight strokes was the largest in her three-year run, it wasn’t without drama.

During the first round Saturday at Leslie Park Golf Course, Hoffman found herself in serious trouble.

On the par-5 11th hole, Hoffman hit an errant drive that prompted her to take a provisional shot. After hitting her provisional, Hoffman went looking, not only was her original drive nowhere to be found - neither was her provisional. For Hoffman, this meant marching back to the tee-box to take her fifth shot.

“My drives weren’t terrible, it was just marshy down there," she said. "It wasn’t a good position to be in, but tournaments aren’t won during the first round. The way the greens were playing, I knew the scores wouldn’t to be too low.” 

Hoffman took a quadruple bogey nine, or on the bright side, a par following her third drive.

Hoffman then fired off a series of birdies to finish with a 5-over-par 77, good enough to end the day with a share of the lead.

On Sunday, Hoffman played in a group with the three other low rounds: Shannon Fraser (79), Kristyn Schwarze (79), and Cindy Dames (77).

The “championship” foursome was a convivial group that consisted of a small roving gallery, two college golfers employing their fathers as caddies (Schwarze and Hoffman), a soon-to-be college golfer with a former classmate caddy (Fraser, Queens University of Charlotte), and a savvy veteran (Dames) who played with a cart in lieu of a caddy.

After nine holes of play on Sunday, Hoffman established a commanding five-hole lead, carding an even par 36. Yet No. 11, home of her quadruple boogie lurked.

On the 452-yard 11th, Hoffman put a driver down the fairway, blasted a 5-iron to the fringe and used a sand wedge to get within two feet of the hole for a tap-in birdie. From there, Hoffman breezed around the course en-route to a final-round even-par 72 and her third city championship.

“I feel good, I think there was a little more pressure to repeat but I’m glad I did,” Hoffman said. "When asked if she has plans on making it four in a row, Hoffman responded, “If I'm available absolutely, I kinda feel like I have to keep coming back until I lose.”

Kristyn Schwarze of Chelsea, who just finished her first year at the University of Richmond, shot a second-round 78 to finish second.

Complete results can be found here:

Bob Gross covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at robertgross@annarbor.com.