One last time, Baldwinsville’s Katie Walsh made her way to the course at SUNY-Delhi, part of the field for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association girls golf tournament, and managed to get a top-20 finish.
In Saturday’s opening round, Walsh, teeing off on hole no. 1, went through a seven-over-par stretch on holes 5 through 8, accounting for most of her front-nine 44.
But Walsh proved steadier on the back nine, not making any birdies, but also making no worse than bogey on her way to a 40. And that total of 12-over-part 84 left her in a tie for 17th, ahead of most of the 81-player field.
Up ahead of her, Auburn freshman Lindsay May, the defending state individual champion, set a tournament record with a four-under-par 68, giving her a two-shot lead over Elizabeth Choi. New Hartford’s Sydney Bard, with a 75, was tied for fifth.
This led to Sunday’s final round, where Walsh started on the 5th hole and proved solid and steady, never making worse than a double bogey and also managing a birdie on the par-five 3rd hole.
It added up to an 83, one shot better than her opening round, and kept Walsh close to the same spot in the standings as, with a final score of 167, she finished tied for 19th with, among others, Jamesville-DeWitt’s Jung-Hye Kim.
May ended up winning the state tournament for the second year in a row, but it wasn’t easy. A front-nine 41 forced her to make three birdies on the back nine to rescue a 75 and, with a two-day total of 143, help her finish one shot ahead of Section I’s Lauren Peter at 144. Bard tied for sixth with a 153.
