Highland girls golf looks to remain in conversation for D-I trophy
October 30, 2018 by Travis Whittaker, Arizona State University
TUCSON - The Highland girls golf team left the Catalina course after the first day of the AIA Division I state championships with mixed feelings.
The Hawks struggled at key moments on the greens yet stand in fourth place in the team standings with strong first-round performances from junior Leah Skaar and senior Lorel Hayward at Omni Tucson National.
Skaar finished the first round at 4-over par and Hayward was at 6-over par. Both sit in the top 15 with 18 holes to play.
“I feel like I played good but my score didn’t reflect how I played,” said Hayward. “I felt like I putted really well but none of my putts really dropped.”
“I just didn’t have any big putts drop like I normally do,” said Skaar. “I hit [the ball] really close to the pins but my ten footers just weren’t dropping like they can do.”
Junior Taylor Naumann felt like she excelled at putting but not her irons.
“My irons were not giving me opportunities to score well, said Naumann. “I just wasn’t making good contact. They weren’t solid.”
Highland will play the Sonoran course Tuesday.
Catalina sets up like a traditional course. Sonoran is more of a desert-style course.
“It makes me excited for tomorrow,” said Naumann. “I know we can definitely get [inside the top two] if we all play our best [round].”
Highland trails third place Hamilton by nine strokes and second place Pinnacle by 14. First place Xavier is leading the tournament at 10-over par as a team. Red Mountain rounds out the top-five trailing Highland by a single stroke.
The first group is scheduled to tee off at 10 Tuesday morning.
