Camas’ Emma Cox, Prairie’s Delainey Patterson win 4A, 3A district golf titles

RIDGEFIELD — Emma Cox is ahead of schedule.

At the beginning of this school year, her sophomore year at Camas High School, she said she wanted to win the district golf title in her career.

“I had no idea I’d win it this season,” she said.

Cox held off teammate Hailey Oster for a three-shot victory Tuesday at the Class 4A District 4 girls golf tournament at Tri-Mountain Golf Course. Cox matched her first-round score with a 76 on Tuesday for a two-day total of 152.

Prairie’s Delainey Patterson broke free from the pack in the Class 3A tournament to win by nine strokes.

The 4A tournament got close on Tuesday. Oster, who had trailed by four strokes after Monday’s first round, had cut the deficit to two shots by the turn Tuesday.

Cox, though, had back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 to give her some more breathing room.

Not that she knew where she stood.

“I’ve never been in this situation before,” she said of leading a 36-hole tournament through 27 holes.

She had no idea where she was on the leaderboard throughout the day.

“It was kind of nice. I felt like I was able to focus on each shot and not worry,” Cox said. “Just focus on lowering my score and not focusing on Hailey.”

Oster, on the other hand, was told she was two behind at the turn.

“It pushed me to keep going,” Oster said.

Cox sank a “weird” 45-foot putt for birdie on No. 11

“I was thinking, ‘Just make par. Just make par.’ I ended up hitting it just right and it went in,” Cox said. “On 12, I hit it really close and made my putt. It was really awesome.”

Oster, a junior, will get one more chance a district championship. She took second place in stride.

“I’m glad if anyone beat me, it was her,” Oster said. “We’re always pushing each other in every match. I’m glad it was us two. We’re very close.”

“It’s a friendly rivalry,” Cox added.

The whole team is close, too.

Oster said the key to Camas’ success this season has been the drastic improvement of every golfer, not just the top two or three players on the team.

“It’s really cool to see them want to do good and go to state and improve,” Oster said.

“It’s fun to go out and have fun every tournament and accomplish our goals,” Cox said.

The top four individuals from this 4A tournament go directly to state. The next six go to bi-district for another shot at state.

The top five 3A golfers go directly to state with the next nine to bi-district.

Patterson will lead the area with her decisive victory.

Four Class 3A golfers were within one shot of the lead and four more were within four of the lead after Monday’s first round. By the time they made the turn in the second round, Patterson was up by seven.

Patterson recorded an 81 on Tuesday, bettering her Monday score by 11 shots. She finished with a two-day total of 173

She had two bogeys and a double-bogey on her first holes Tuesday but did not lose faith.

“I’m still hitting good shots. It’s going to come around,” she told herself.

She made par on the rest of the front nine.

“I knew today was going to be a good day for me.”

Kiana Coburn of Fort Vancouver finished second. She also improved on her first-day score, coming in with a 90 for a two-day total of 182.

Prairie won the team title. Three Falcons finished in the top five — Patterson, plus Baylee Robertson (third) and Emma Sorenson (fourth).

Patterson drew messages on her arms. One arm had “#PrairieGolf” while the other had #”BounceBack.”

“It’s a song all of us like, and it was a true statement,” Patterson said. “We all wanted to play better than yesterday.”

Patterson did just that, winning a district title for herself and leading the Falcons to a team championship.