RIDGEFIELD — Hailey Oster wants her tan back.
Less than a week ago, the Camas High senior spent spring break on Maui, Hawaii, and even golfed twice with her father, Ernie, on courses she’ll likely play in college when she joins Montana State’s women’s golf team next year.
Thursday, the annual Chieftain Invitational turned out anything but the 80-degree sun-soaked days Oster enjoyed last week.
If there’s such a thing as ideal golfing conditions, the 18 holes at Tri-Mountain Golf Course wasn’t it since rain, wind, and cold temperatures plagued the 66-golfer field.
“It was nice (in Hawaii),” Oster said, “and this transition was terrible.”
The rain didn’t bother Oster, whose 84 on back-to-back 42s tied her for third with teammate Abigail Jiang and Fort Vancouver’s Kiana Coburn. The wind, though, proved to be a different story, and by the time the first pairing teed off at 8 a.m., the rains came, too.
“The wind made it a lot colder than it really was,” Oster said. “It made it tougher mentally to be confident in your game.”
It still turned into a field day for Camas with five golfers in the top 7 to help the Papermakers win the team title in 13 teams from Clark and Cowlitz counties. Their 336 points beat out Prairie (373) and host Columbia River (395) for the top three team scores.
And the individual medalist went to Camas, too, for a third straight year. Ashley Clark’s even-par 37 on the front nine paved the way for her 18-hole total of 82, edging Kelso’s Liz Dolan (83), whose round was highlighted by an eagle on the back nine.
Despite the cold, Clark was hot from the start. She made par on seven of her first nine holes, and her birdie on the 425-yard par-4 seventh set her up for a 4-shot lead at the turn.
She and Dolan, of Kelso, were the only golfers to shoot 30s Thursday. Dolan gained ground with her back-nine 38, including an eagle on 14.
Following Clark, Oster and Jiang, teammates Emma Cox (86) and Wenny Cai (88) were sixth and seventh, respectively, for Camas. Cai tied for seventh with Prairie’s Delainey Patterson (88).
The back nine proved to be a better outcome for many, including Washougal’s Kallie Sakamoto. The senior regrouped after an “ugly” start to tie for ninth (91) in her first appearance at the invitational since her sophomore year when she finished second behind Oster at Lewis River Golf Course.
Last year, Sakamoto withdrew from the invite during warm-ups for what later was diagnosed as wrist tendonitis. She returned in time to repeat as district champion and had her highest state finish (second).
Still, Sakamoto found the positives on an otherwise “brutal” day.
“It’s not normally what I shoot,” she said. “It was pretty miserable, but I had fun.”
