RIDGEFIELD — Emma Cox had to put in a little extra work on Tuesday, but it was work that eventually paid off.
Cox followed up Monday’s round of 76 with a 78 on Tuesday to finish at 154 at Tri-Mountain to win the 4A district girls golf title by nine strokes.
“I didn’t make it easy on myself today,” the Camas senior said. “I had a lot of yardages where I was between clubs, so sometimes I chose a club that was about 20 feet shorter than what my other club would have been. So I was making some longer putts today. … Not all the putts went in, but I was happy with the pars I was able to get on the back nine.”
Cox started the day with a one-shot lead over teammate Ashley Clark and she extended her lead to two shots at the turn.
But Clark struggled on the back nine as Cox extended the lead.
Clark finished with a 163 to take second as Camas swept the top four places. Elizabeth Gillespie was third (179) and Wenny Cai was fourth (184). Skyview’s Maddy Starwalt (186) rounded out the top five.
Camas took home the team title with a score of 678. Skyview (772) and Union (827) also qualified for next week’s bi-district tournament at Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton.
With teams being able to qualify for state for the first time, Cox will play in the bi-district next week. In the past, top placers at district advanced directly to state.
But Cox doesn’t mind the extra couple of rounds of golf.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I love playing golf with these girls, and I love playing golf. So (it’s) another weekend over at Gold Mountain. It’ll be exciting.”
While Cox struggled to find the right shot out on the fairway, the opposite was true for Fort Vancouver’s Kiana Coburn.
Coburn struggled on the greens Tuesday in the 3A district tournament, also played at Tri-Mountain.
Trailing Kelso’s Liz Dolan by one shot after Monday’s round, Coburn surged into the lead in the first few holes Tuesday.
But Dolan regrouped to take the lead back by the turn, then a solid back nine gave Dolan the win with a 158 that included a birdie chip from the fringe on No. 18.
Coburn finished second seven shots back at 165.
“I was pressing a little, so some of the putts and chips that I usually get pretty close weren’t quite getting as close as I’d like,” Coburn said. “I didn’t execute on the back nine, but hat’s off to Liz. She put a lot of pressure on me on those back holes.”
Coburn was especially pleased by the 79 she shot on Monday, giving her something to build on heading into bi-districts next week.
“I’ve never shot in the 70s in a tournament before, so yesterday was a really big milestone for me,” she sasid. “Now I know I can do it, not just in a practice round, but in competition.”
Mountain View had the next four placers after Coburn — Audrey Chang (179), Kaila Bonawitz (181), Calley West (185), Maria Maratos (186) and Mazey Copeland (195) — to take the team title. The Thunder outdistanced Kelso 783-844.
Those two teams will be joined by Prairie at bi-district next week.
