Pleasant's Maura Murphy goes 7-for-7 in HOJGA events this summer
GALION — If these are the bad days, just wait until the good days come for Maura Murphy.
The Pleasant season just finished a perfect season in the Heart of Ohio Junior Golf Association, capturing all seven wins in the girls 13-to-18 age group this summer.
"I think it definitely shows I’m capable of shooting scores," she said of the gains she saw this summer. "I think HOJGA defined what some of my bad days are going to look like, but I had some promising nine holes for sure, and I hope to put two and two together. Today, I shot even on the back and shot 6-over and blew up with a 78."
More: Pataskala's Gracie James earns Ohio Junior Girls championship with steady play Tuesday
In the season finale for HOJGA on Monday at Valley View Golf Course near Galion, the girls started their day on the backside where Murphy shot a 35. She came home on the front side with a 43. Still, her 78 was more than enough to win the round and go 7-for-7 this season in HOJGA tourneys.
She shot nine pars and two birdies on Monday to beat second-place teammate and cousin Maddie Murphy who carded a 91 for runner-up honors.
A 78 a couple years ago would have been cause for celebration, which shows just how far Murphy has come in her golf game.
"I would have been ecstatic. At the end of the day, I’m content, but I always have the nagging feeling that I can improve. I just need to go out and practice until I achieve the next goal," she said.
She can see where her improvement is showing up.
"I think my short game has definitely improved since last year, and it helps me stay lower easier," Murphy said. "On this course however, the greens are crazy fast, so short game doesn’t help you necessarily because it’s hard. You need to be on your greens and on your putting out here."
Coach goes recruiting and finds all-around female athlete
With the graduation of Dina Shah, Pleasant was unsure it would have enough girls to bring back and defend its back-to-back Mid Ohio Athletic Conference girls golf championships and its two straight district berths in Division II, but Murphy went recruiting and came up with the school's best female athlete — senior Whitney Waddell, a state qualifying track performer and all-leaguer in basketball and soccer who is also a major college softball recruit.
"Whit’s going to play," Murphy said. "I think she’ll pick it up. We have another incoming sophomore who is going to join so we’ll have five people. I’m excited. Hopefully we have a good conference year and maybe we can see state. I don’t know. That’s long range."
As for herself, she will continue to double up in the fall with golf and girls tennis.
"I’m going to definitely focus more on golf this year because last year I kind of burned out at the end of my seasons. It was a lot," Murphy said.
She could skip the girls tennis season in the fall and play boys tennis in the spring, but decided against it in the end.
"That was going to be my plan freshman year, but our girls tennis team was small in numbers, so I went out for girls instead. I’ve kept with the double season all through high school, which is a lot. It’s a lot with classes," she said.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Pleasant's Maura Murphy goes 7-for-7 in HOJGA events this summer
