Freshman wins Class 3A state title; plus other top results from Clark County golfers
Graham Moody made a name for himself in high school golf last fall as one of the future stars of the sport.
The future took all of eight months.
Moody, a freshman from Mountain View, won the Class 3A state boys golf championship in Spokane. He followed up his opening round 68 with a 1-under-par 71 on Wednesday for a one-shot victory over Ryan Feyrer of Capital.
“I put in a lot of work in the offseason to put myself in position to be in contention,” Moody said Wednesday evening as he prepared to travel back to Clark County. “I worked on my mental game, and it finally paid off.”
That included his philosophy to only worry about what he was doing on the course, not any of his competitors.
“I wasn’t focused on anyone but myself,” Moody said. “Just beat the course and do my best.”
He really needed that approach, too, after he recorded a double-bogey on the 12th hole in the final round at The Creek at Qualchan in Spokane.
“I had no idea where I stood,” he said.
He bounced back with birdies on 15 and 16. It turned out, he needed those birdies for the championship.
His teammates congratulated him when he completed his round. There was another celebration when the scoring became official and the WIAA announced the new champion.
“Everybody was super nice,” Moody said. “Even other teams were supportive.”
Moody, an established golfer in the junior ranks, knows success. This, however, was his first high school state tournament.
“This is definitely the best win,” Moody said. “I think just because I was able to play for my school. It means something to win for your school.”
He also helped his school take home a trophy. The Thunder team finished fourth. Mason White and Willy Yeh also made it to the second day at state to score for the team total.
“It’s an honor just to be playing with these guys,” Moody said of all of his Mountain View teammates.
Moody was the lone champion but there were several other strong finishes from Clark County golfers.
2A girls
Kallie Sakamoto of Washougal fired back-to-back 78s to finish in a tie for second place at Horn Rapids Golf Course in Pasco. Kenedee Peters of Ephrata won with a 72-76.
1A girls
Taylor Entenman of La Center finished second with a two-day total of 4-over par at Hangman Valley Golf Course in Spokane. Kaysa Panke of Davenport won the tourney at 7-under par.
4A boys
Owen Huntington of Camas shot a 73-71 at Canyon Lakes Golf Course in Kennewick to tie for fifth place. He was seven strokes off the championship score recorded by Drew Warford of Mount Si.
4A girls
Hailey Oster of Camas birdied the last hole of her high school career to finish in a tie for ninth. Montgomery Ferreira of Bellarmine Prep rolled to the title with 66-65 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
Camas finished second in the team race. Oster, Ashley Clark (13th), Emma Cox (15th), Lauren Tsukimura (29th), and Abigail Jiang (30th) all scored for the Papermakers.
3A girls
Delainey Patterson of Prairie rebounded from her 86 on Tuesday to fire a 76 Wednesday at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane, moving up the leaderboard to finish in a tie for 12th.
2A boys
Cade Bringhurst of Ridgefield was the top individual from Clark County at Columbia Point Golf Course in Richland, finishing in a tie for 13th place.
The Columbia River team placed fourth. Kyle Gomez (17th), Mason Waite (25th), and Isaiah Lamont (27th) scored for the Chieftains.
1A boys
Sean Ball of Seton Catholic tied for 14th at Liberty Lake Golf Course in Liberty Lake.
