Lakeland Christian's Emilie Morin wins county golf tourney; McKeel wins team title
LAKELAND — The love of golf for Emilie Morin has grown so much that she ended up winning the girls Polk County Golf Championship on Monday at Cleveland Heights Golf Course.
The Lakeland Christian junior shot a 74 — four strokes ahead of sophomore Kathleen golfer Darby Hancock. McKeel sophomore Ava Bustos finished third with an 80, while seventh-grader Georgia Grace Spence had an 81 and senior Laurel Haake wrapped up with an 82.
“I have been working really hard these past couple years, especially to rise to the best of my game and be able to win some tournaments,” Morin said. “I am so extremely blessed to get the win because I know that there were so many skilled girls in the field. I have been spending pretty much every day at the course just going out and playing with friends, some of whom I got to play with during this round, and my love for the game has grown so much this year because of it.”
Because of the rain delay, Morin had a bit of a rough patch, as she was figuring out the greens, which led to her scoring a 2-over-par through four. But she settled down and that resulted in her going -1 through the next 14 holes, including 12 pars in a row.
“I have never been par or below on C course, so that was a big mental block I had going into today,” Morin said.
One of her more incredible saved pars was on Hole C6, where she had 60 yards left into the green after her second shot. Still, she was able to get it close before executing the 4-footer for par. On Hole C8, her shot was almost in the water, but she was still able to chip up and make an 8-footer to save her par.
“To be honest, the most challenging part of today was just the slow day, which can’t be avoided in these big tournaments, but it forced me to slow down and take my time… I played as if I was 2 down the whole time — just trying to get the birdies.”
Lakeland Christian head coach Beth Burton said Morin is a model golfer.
“Emile is an amazing young woman and a great golfer,” Burton said. “She is the captain and leader of our team. Emile is a role model to the younger girls on the team.”
McKeel wins team title
The team title went to McKeel thanks to a 334, which is the second county championship with Jeremy Bohenstiehl as the girls golf coach. Leading the way for McKeel were Bustos and sophomore Carly McKnight with an 83.
"(It) was a great feeling to see the girls accomplish one of their goals for this season," Bohnenstiehl said. "They played hard and I couldn't be more proud of them."
Trailing McKeel but placing in the top five are Lakeland Christian with a 385, Lakeland with a 420, All Saints with a 441 and Lake Wales with a 446.
Monday's results
Medalist: Emile Morin, Lakeland Christian 74; Darby Hancock, Kathleen 78; Ava Bustos, McKeel 80
Team Results
McKeel (334): Ava Bustos 80, Carly McKnight 83, 70, Susie Davis 85, Georgia Grace Spence 86, Caroline DeKalb 90
Lakeland Christian (385): Emile Morin 74, Taylor Logan 99, Lyndsay Greene 105, Amerlia Pearce 106
Lakeland (420): Madison Templeton 92, Tia Hargrove 97, Nailah Butler 112, Nadia Butler 119, Adayah Peck 147
All Saints Academy (441): Sydney Rasnake 100, Lola Kluyenaar 1006, Anjali Soni 116, Inaya Premji 119, Roochika Choubey 145
Lake Wales (446): Alexandria McIntosh 105, Lauren Hare 109, Haley Woods 110, Ally Donley 122
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: girls high school golf
