Two of Jamesville-DeWitt’s top girls golfers would finish a memorable season by appearing in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship tournament.
Jung-Hye Kim and Alanna Jones were part of the field that teed off at SUNY-Delhi on Saturday for a 36-hole event along with a field of top golfers, led by Auburn’s Lindsay May, who set out to defend the state individual title she had earned as an eighth-grader in 2014.
During the opening round, Kim did not make a single par on the front nine and finished with a 48. Somehow, she turned it around with a par-birdie-birdie-stretch on holes 10 through 12 and improved eight shots, to a 40, on the back nine to finish at 88, which tied her for 26th place.
Jones teed off on 10, and was just four over par through seven holes. But the rest of the round proved a struggle, Jones eventually turning in a 94 to share 57th place.
Meanwhile, May was setting a state tournament record by shooting a four-under-par 68 that included six birdies, three of them in a row from 14 through 16. She began the final round with a two-shot lead over Elizabeth Choi, from Section VIII.
In the final round, May held on to repeat as state champions, 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.
As that was going on, Kim was moving up the standings. Starting out on the 7th hole, she double-bogeyed there, but went one under part over the next five holes, her best stretch of the tournament.
Kim cooled off from there, but her final total of 79 was still nine shots lower than the first round and, with 167, put her in a tie for 19th place with, among others, Baldwinsville’s Katie Walsh.
Jones would finish at 194, starting her final round with three consecutive pars, but unable to keep up from there as she had a 100 for the day and tied for 67th place.
