PINEHURST – After a windy day one, conditions ripened up for the final day of competition in the 2017 NCHSAA Women’s Golf State Championships. Overcast skies and gloomy conditions gave way to beautiful sunshine and mostly calm winds for day two of the tournament.
Team scores are compiled based on the three lowest individual scores from a five-player team.
1A/2A Championship: Currituck nabs first team title, First Flight’s Schuster runs away with individual honors
Katherine Schuster from First Flight turned in a 2-over par, 74, on the final day at Longleaf Golf & Country Club to finish at even par, 144, on the tournament. She captured first place and became the first individual State Champion in the school’s Women’s Golf history. Schuster carded three birdies on the day, including one on the opening hole of her round, the par-four first hole. She also birdied the par-five fifth and the par-four seventeenth. Schuster bested the field by ten shots with Forbush’s Mallory Fobes taking second place with her 10-over par, 154, total.
Currituck County claimed the school’s first Women’s Golf team State Championship by 29 strokes over Mount Airy. Currituck’s top three golfers posted a combined 119-over par, 551. They were led by Bailee Twiford, the third place individual finisher overall, as she scored a combined 13-over par, 157, over the two day tournament.
Mount Airy finished in second place in the team event. The Granite Bears shot a combined 147-over, 579, besting third place West Davidson by two shots. Mount Airy was led by Alyssa Cox who shot a combined 25-over, 169. West Davidson was powered by Olivia Sharpe who also shot 25-over, 169.
3A Championship: Joy leads Rockingham County to schools first Individual title and third-straight team championship
Hailey Joy became Rockingham County’s first Women’s Golf Individual State Champion with a 1-over par, 145 total, over the two-day event at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club’s Red Fox Course. Joy held off Northwood’s Katharina Floyd and Williams High’s Kayla Smith by three shots on the way to the championship. Joy had a pair of birdies on her final round after a 3-under, 69, on day one.
Rockingham County secured the school’s third straight team State Championship, expanding on what began the day as a 22-shot advantage over second place Northern Guilford. The Cougars finished the tournament at 23-over par, 455. Olivia John from Rockingham County finished tied for fourth at 8-over par, 152. Her teammate Victoria Cook posted a 14-over par, 158, good enough to tie Hickory’s Anna McDonald for eighth place.
Northern Guilford cruised to a second place finish with Victoria Ladd leading the Nighthawks with an 8-over par finish, tied for fourth. Siana Wong also had a nice showing for Northern Guilford, carding a 21-over par, 165, to land in 13th position.
4A Championship: Athens Drive’s Chang takes fourth straight, Cardinal Gibbons dethrones Pinecrest
Jennifer Chang from Athens Drive carded a 2-under par, 70, in her final round at Pinehurst No. 1 to post a score of 5-under par, 139, for the tournament. The score was good enough to hold off second-place finisher, Garner’s Kayla Ward, by seven strokes and claim Chang’s fourth 4A Individual Championship. She is the first Women’s Golfer in NCHSAA history to win the State Individual Championship in all four of high school seasons. Chang fired four birdies, three of them in the first four holes of the day, to help put the tournament away.
Cardinal Gibbons got top ten finishes from three of the Lady Crusader entries to help hold off last year’s champion, Pinecrest, by seven shots. The Lady Crusaders combined for a 22-over par, 454, led by third place individual finisher Megan Kanaby, who shot a combined 5-over, 149. Kanaby edged her teammate Hannah Rose Bruxvoort by one shot for the honor of top Crusader finish. Hailey Freeman from Gibbons also factored into the championship, scoring a 12-over par, 156, placing her in a tie for tenth. The team title for Gibbons was their third State Title overall in Women’s Golf, their second in the last three years at the 4A level.
Pinecrest had another strong year, finishing just seven shots behind Cardinal Gibbons, with Patriots golfers posting a 29-over total. Jaclyn Kenzel led the way for the Patriots with a 5-over score, placing her in a tie for third with Kanaby. Mackenzie Battle of Pinecrest carded a 12-over par, 156, with a pair of teammates, Mara Hirtle and Lorin Wagler firing 17-over totals.
