Good golly! Rochester’s Moore shoots 77, advances to state
Lady Zs shoot 399, finish 9th
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
DEMOTTE — Rochester junior golfer Molly Moore could not avoid recent history even if she wanted to at the Lake Central regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club Saturday.
Ava Thomas came to see her. So did Olivia Bailey. They were the girls in the lineup ahead of her in 2024 when Moore last made the state finals.
Now thriving alone, Moore is the latest from the Rochester golfing machine to make state when she shot a 77 to advance to state as an individual.
Rochester’s team score of 399 was good for ninth place. Lexi Haughs added a 99, Lily Chipps had a 110, Audrey Widman had a 113, and freshman Makenna Jackson had a 138.
Lake Central won the regional with a 342, and Chesterton (345) and Munster (349) also advanced to state.
Moore advanced with the second lowest score among individuals on non-advancing teams. Valparaiso’s Kennedy Gutierrez shot a 76, and South Bend St. Joe’s Lucy Dunham also advanced with an 80.
Gutierrez also edged Moore for medalist honors.
Moore will tee off from hole No. 1 at state at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Battle Ground Golf Club. The state finals have moved to Battle Ground this year due to flooding at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
Rochester and Valparaiso were playing partners, so Gutierrez and Moore played in the same group along with Elkhart’s Ashlynn Sessler. Gutierrez bogeyed No. 9, the final hole of the day, while Moore double-bogeyed it to secure the one-stroke win. Munster’s Hannah Ingersoll also shot a 77 to tie Moore for second.
“Relieved definitely," Moore said. “This whole week has been stressful for me because when you know you have a chance of doing it, you kinda just want it over with. So definitely relieved.”
Left: Rochester junior Molly Moore and coach Dan Bailey celebrate after Moore shot a 77 to qualify for the IHSAA state finals at the Lake Central regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte. Moore finished in a tie for second place in a field of 90 golfers.
Right: Rochester’s Molly Moore celebrates with her sister Payton and former teammates Olivia Bailey and Ava Thomas after the Lake Central regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte Saturday. Moore shot a 77 to qualify for the IHSAA state finals at Battle Ground Golf Club this Friday and Saturday. Payton Moore is a former golfer at IU Kokomo, Bailey is a freshman on the golf team at Valparaiso University, and Thomas is a sophomore on the golf team at Grace College. From left – Payton Moore, Molly Moore, Bailey, Thomas.
Finishing on the front nine, it was a nervy last nine of 44 for Moore following a bogey-free back nine of 33 that she capped with a 30-footer for birdie at No. 18.
“Her best nine holes, a personal record 33, and it was a very good 33,” Rochester coach Dan Bailey said. “Three really good birdies and six solid pars, so it was about as good as you could hope to draw it up.”
Moore opened her day with a birdie at No. 10. After three straight pars, she put her approach shot on the par-4 14th within five feet and made that putt for another birdie. After three more pars, she made her birdie on No. 18. She said her best drive all day was on 18, which led to an 8-iron approach.
“I was striking the ball very well,” Moore said. “Putting myself in very good positions. So yeah, that honestly is what got me through that nine.”
Her first bogey of the day came on the par-5 second hole and followed with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5. On the diabolical sixth hole – it is a dogleg to the right so severe that there is no view of the green from the tee with a reservoir to the right and deep bunker in front of the green – Moore took a triple bogey, taking three shots to get out of the front bunker.
The placement of the rake in the bunker affected her shot, according to Bailey.
“The triple bogey on 6, she really didn’t hit a bad shot," Bailey said. “Her approach shot came up short in the bunker. When we were in the fairway, we were talking. Where that pin was located over the back of the green would be a terrible spot to be. And so my last words to her were, ‘You’re a really good bunker player. If you end up in the bunker, that’s OK.’ Well, we got up there, and the rake was in the bunker right on the edge of the bunker, so her ball rested up against the rake and kept it from rolling down to the middle of the bunker. So she ended up having a stance where she was outside the bunker super squatted down. It was a really difficult situation where if the rake wasn’t there, the ball was going to roll down in the middle of the bunker. It’s just a normal shot. So that was kind of a bad break.”
After she could not escape the bunker on her first two tries, Bailey said Moore showed maturity.
“I was really proud of her,” Bailey said. “Because after she left it in the bunker the second time, she completely stepped out and reset mentally and gave herself a little timeout. And that’s a veteran move. That’s somebody that knows I’ve got to reset here.”
Moore then two-putted for her triple bogey.
Moore and her playing partners waited about a half-hour between holes Nos. 5 and 6. Of course, part of the reason why they waited so long is because the hole is so difficult and takes a long time to finish. No one birdied it Saturday, and only 10 of the 90 players parred it.
Moore said she felt “stressed” over her final five holes.
“When you get stopped for about 30 minutes, that’s stressful because all you’re doing is thinking,” Moore said. “For me those last few holes on the front nine are one of the hardest. So I was very stressed, mostly after that double. Because a 77, to me I figured I needed to shoot 76 or below to make it out. So I was stressed.”
And if another sign of maturity is to immediately forget about a bad hole, Moore showed that too when she chipped in for birdie on the par-5 seventh hole, slamming a chip from the fringe off the pin and straight in for her fourth birdie of the day.
“So that birdie, I had had three amazing shots,” Moore said. “The third one just ending too short. I just didn’t do my calculations right, but it ended up fine. I was not in the sand, and that’s what I was kind of worried about. That chip, I was in actually a really good spot. Like it was laying on the grass well. But the pin, I had to hit a pretty high 60, and that did not happen. I did not hit the ball how I wanted to hit it. I actually thinned it somewhat. Did not get full club face. I did not like it. So I got 50 percent of it right. My aim was amazing, so luckily, it made it, and that was coming after a triple, so that helped the mentality.”
The seniors
Haughs was often frustrated during her round. She shot a 117 at the 2023 regional, a 108 in 2024 and a 96 last year.
“I would much rather have it that way than have someone that doesn’t care, but I was really happy with how Lexi composed herself and handled not hitting it great,” Bailey said. “It had to be a frustrating round for her. Because there were several times when I would be with her, and she would hit a really bad shot. She hit a couple out of bounds, a couple in the penalty areas, and then she would drop a ball and hit the exact same club and just hit it perfectly. And so I was really happy with how she carried herself throughout the day. Sometimes, I see her show her frustration on her face, and I didn’t see that at all today. I felt like she was very comfortable in who she was and what she was doing today. So that was a very good way to end her career.”
Chipps started with perhaps the best nine holes of her career, a 50 on the back nine before finishing with a 60 on the front nine.
“We’ve seen Lily’s scores just drop from the beginning of the season until the end of the season,” Chipps said. “And so, it’s kind of fitting that her last round of her career was the same way too. Also, people who haven’t been out here very much may not know I feel like the front nine, which we played last, I think is the harder of the two. So to turn it around and not take shots of a side that I think is more difficult, I’m really proud she hung in there.”
Widman knocked 42 strokes off her 2025 regional score. She missed her personal best by three strokes.
“Her and Lily are the same,” Bailey said. “We just watched Audrey’s scores all year long just keep dropping and dropping. Most people aren’t going to look at that score and really be impressed with it, but she took, I think, a 14 on hole 5 and missed her PR by three strokes. … So she was playing really good golf today and had one hole jump up and bite her, but that hole also was the hole that had four groups sitting on the tee. … It’s a hard hole. That stretch of 4-5-6-7 on the front nine, that’s a hard stretch of holes. I’m really proud of Audrey for just all year long. … This is a microcosm of her whole season.”
LAKE CENTRAL REGIONAL
at Sandy Pines Golf Club, DeMotte, Saturday (par 72)
Lake Central 342, Chesterton 345, Munster 349, Crown Point 350, Valparaiso 361, Penn 374, Logansport 376, LaPorte 398, ROCHESTER 399, Kankakee Valley 405, South Bend St. Joe 415, Marquette Catholic 417, Elkhart 433, Portage 437, North Judson 487
LAKE CENTRAL (342): Benda 78, Urbanski 79, Parks 85, Schilling 100, (McCall 100)
CHESTERTON (345): McCoy 80, Driscoll 87, Dodds 87, Kisic 91, (Arulandu 113)
MUNSTER (349): H. Ingersoll 77, P. Ingersoll 87, Padilla 91, Cipowski 94, (Glombicki 99)
CROWN POINT (350): Rothrock 81, Ziolkowski 89, Franklin 89, C. Zentz 91, (K. Zentz 93)
VALPARAISO (361): Gutierrez 76, Norwine 88, Rykard 98, Cochran 99, (Jacobson 126)
PENN (374): Lee 90, Steele 91, Gour 94, Hastings 99, (DeMeyer 102)
LOGANSPORT (376): Wilburn 84, Lundy 91, Graham 97, Kranz 104, (Baker 105)
LAPORTE (398): Menne 91, Fogus 100, Kirk 101, Buchanan 106, (Riley 106)
ROCHESTER (399): MOLLY MOORE (44-33) 77, LEXI HAUGHS (47-52) 99, LILY CHIPPS (60-50) 110, AUDREY WIDMAN (60-53) 113, (MAKENNA JACKSON (66-72) 138)
KANKAKEE VALLEY (405): Capellari 89, Putman 104, Stevens 105, DeBoard 107, (Kritlow 111)
SOUTH BEND ST. JOE (415): Dunham 80, Hull 87, Ladyga 123, Stockwell 125, (Hanover 136)
MARQUETTE CATHOLIC (417): Pleasant 93, Bonez-Shepherd 103, Acosta 106, Schultz 115, (Meyer 122)
ELKHART (433): Craig 101, Sessler 102, Habic 108, Miller 122, (Hoesel 163)
PORTAGE (437): Krenkel 91, Arnn 113, Vaught 113, Abella 120, (Bohling 139)
NORTH JUDSON (487): Box 114, Wright 122, Sievers 124, Chaffins 127, (Beauchamp 130)
Players competing as individuals: Jada Bush (Trinity Academy) – 106, Geleott (Rensselaer) – 89, Kats (Illiana Christian) – 103, Wojtas (John Glenn) – 95, Oswald (Hobart) – 135, Brough (Mishawaka Marian) – 114, Levin (Tri-County) – 103, LaReau (Hanover Central) – 103, Wagnor (South Central (Union Mills)) – 86, Zabrecky (Hobart) – 118, Shaffer (Trinity Academy) – 114, Arrenholz (South Newton) – 105, Silveyra (Hanover Central) – 101, Schroeder (New Prairie) – 90, Senteno (Hammond Noll) – 113
Top three individuals on non-advancing teams: 1. Kennedy Gutierrez (Valparaiso) – 76, 2. MOLLY MOORE (ROCHESTER) – 77, 3. Lucy Dunham (South Bend St. Joe) – 80
Medalist: Kennedy Gutierrez (Valparaiso) – 76
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