Under the weather to under par: Westfield's Samantha Brown wins IHSAA girls golf title.
CARMEL – Maybe the cold Westfield senior Samantha Brown had lingering for a few weeks wasn’t such a bad deal, after all.
Maybe it played a role in leading her to an impressive performance.
Brown completed her run to the IHSAA girls golf state championship at Prairie View Golf Club Saturday with an ultra-consistent, two-round total of 142 (2-under-par) — four shots better than a group of four golfers tying for the runner-up spot.
What made Brown’s feat so impressive is she finished the 36 holes with only two bogeys — none over the first 28 holes. After a 4-under-par, bogey-free round Friday, she shot 2-over Saturday and was never really challenged.
Further adding to the impressive feat is she was not feeling well during the whole tournament.
“I’ve had a cold since the regional tournament,” Brown said. “I was coughing down the fairways, especially on Friday. (Saturday), it wasn’t as bad. I got a little tired, but I could handle it.”
“She’s been, from day one, an elite player,” Westfield coach Josh Bryant said of the Purdue recruit. “She focused on being patient, being positive and limiting bogeys and she did all that (Saturday) when it mattered most.”
Brown nearly pulled off a triple crown, of sorts, as she also was named the IHSAA’s Mental Attitude Award winner following the tournament.
Brown was denied the third jewel of that triple crown — the team state title — by an impressive finish by Carmel.
Trailing by one shot entering the round and still a shot down at the turn in round two, coach Kelly Kluesner’s Greyhounds made up 10 shots over the back nine to finish with a 608 total — topping Westfield’s 617. Homestead placed third (622) and Noblesville fourth (635).
The state title is the second-straight for Carmel and the fourth in program history. The 608 team score is also the fifth-best in state finals history.
“Winning two in a row is a dream,” Kluesner said, "but actually accomplishing it is very hard. Our motto today was ‘one-shot-at-a-time.’ We just wanted to stay patient, eliminate the big number and, fortunately, we were able to pull away.”
The Greyhounds were led by seniors Michaela Headlee (who finished in that four-way tie for runner-up with 146), Claire Swathwood (149) and Kamryn Williams (156), along with junior Sophie Mock, who rounded out the Carmel score with a 157.
“Our game plan is always to get through holes 8 to 13, just trying to make par and bogey if we have to,” Kluesner said. “That’s what we did both days in this tournament. We struggled a few other places, but we kept our focus on our targets: hitting fairways, hitting greens and try for not more than two putts.
“Our strategy didn’t change here, so that was nice.”
“Our experience from (winning) last year helped us,” Headlee said. “We were a few shots behind last year after the first day, but we knew we had to play steady golf.”
“We’ve battled Carmel all year and they beat us the majority of the times we met,” Bryant said. “We performed close to what our expectations are and if you’re within five or six shots on the back nine, anything can happen.
“But, Carmel played fantastic and deserved to win.”
Also tying for second, individually, were Castle’s Ashley Kirkland, Westfield's Addison Kooi, Batesville sophomore Ava South. Swathwood and Floyd Central’s Paige Giovenco each finished at 5-over, followed by Culver Academy’s Lynne Zhang and Homestead’s Scarlett Senk, each at 6-over.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls golf state finals: Samantha Brown, Carmel win titles
