‘I was not hitting my irons well at all today:’ Moore shoots 85 at state, finishes tied for 46th
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
BATTLE GROUND – Rochester’s Molly Moore shot an 85 at the second round of the IHSAA girls golf state finals at Battle Ground Golf Club Saturday and finished in a tie for 46th place with a two-day total of 168.
Moore had one birdie, seven pars, six bogeys and four double bogeys.
She finished 30 strokes behind medalist Taylor Snively, a Zionsville junior who won state medalist for the third straight year. Snively shot a 6-under-par 138 and beat runner-up Ressie Lemmon of Mount Vernon (Fortville) by six strokes.
Meanwhile, Snively’s Zionsville won their third straight team title with a team score of 589. Carmel was second with a 615.
For the second straight day, Moore’s lone birdie came on a par-3. She birdied No. 5 in the first round Friday and No. 13 Saturday.
She credited coach Dan Bailey with some good advice before her tee shot on No. 13 Saturday.
“Another par-3, and I hate par-3s,” Moore said of the irony. “It’s a 7-iron, just a normal one, and that’s actually been my favorite club recently. I don’t know. It’s weird. But yeah, it was a perfect 7-iron, so Mr. (Dan) Bailey told me where to hit it – just a little right of the pin. And yeah, it was perfect, and then I had about a five-footer, and you know how my putting has been. And so it was a straight downhill putt, and I was very worried that I was going to miss the hole, and it would go way down because it was impossible to stop. It went in, and that felt good.”
The birdie followed three straight pars on Nos. 10-12. But after the birdie, she played the last five holes in 7-over-par, including double bogeys on Nos. 14 and 18.
Moore said she had putting issues Friday.
Saturday’s troubles had more to do with everything but putting.
“The putting was better,” Moore said. “There were a handful, still, of three-putts like that last hole (No. 18). But we worked on it this morning before I teed off, and we figured it out. So the putting wasn’t quite the issue today. It was everything else, kind of flip-flopped from yesterday. … I was not hitting my irons well at all today.”
Said Bailey: “I think that’s a fair assessment. The speed on the putts was much better today. I think today was just one of those days where she didn’t hit it quite as well as she did yesterday. You know, it’s interesting. The end result was very similar in two very different rounds of golf. … A whole lot of different ways to get to the same result.”
Moore also had troubles with the three-hole stretch from Nos. 3-5. Moore went par-par-birdie on those holes Friday. She went double bogey-double bogey-bogey on those holes Saturday.
“I think coming off two pars, I was feeling very, very good,” Moore said. “Knowing I had parred 3 and 4 yesterday and birdied 5 going into them, you’re feeling good. Like, you got that. When on 3, my tee shot was not good, and I think that’s when I started getting down, and it kind of just continued out through those holes. I just wasn’t putting myself in good places at all.”
Moore finished 90th at state in 2024 when the state finals were at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel and she made it as part of the Lady Z team. She did not make state last year.
Her state score was 26 strokes better than it was two years ago.
“I mean, being top 50 in the state, that’s amazing,” Moore reflected. “That’s really good, mixed with Zionsville, the best teams. So that does feel good, mostly compared to my freshman year. I’ve changed, not so much golf-wise. Obviously, I’m shaving a lot of strokes since then. But I’d say mentally I’ve gotten much better. Freshman year, that was tough. You could see my emotion, and you still do on the golf course now, but I try to hide it more. … I don’t want other people to see if I’m mad or anything.”
Bailey has gotten to see her improvement close-up.
“It’s been so fun to watch her grow,” Bailey said. “As a freshman, (it was) probably in an unfair situation being put on the team that she was on, and she managed that very well as a freshman. Just over the last two years, tremendous growth. This year, it’s hard for anybody outside to see the growth because I think most of the growth came between her ears and in her heart.
“All day yesterday and today, not one time did she hang her head (or) tear up, and every girl in her group cried today except Molly. And just sometimes the emotions take over. This year, she has been just so steady. … I think she is starting to see that’s an important part of doing well in this game.”
Comments