Moore shoots personal best 72, helps Rochester finish 8th at Kokomo Invite

Bailey adds 5 birdies, shoots 74

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Molly Moore

KOKOMO — Rochester sophomore golfer Molly Moore’s round at the Kokomo Invitational at Kokomo Country Club Saturday could be summarized in one word – short.

Have a good short game and a short memory.

Paired with players from Noblesville and Westfield as tournament organizers put the three teams in the field who participated in last year’s state finals, it seemingly brought out the best in Moore, Olivia Bailey and Lexi Haughs as the top three Lady Z players combined for 11 birdies.

Rochester would go on to shoot a 356 and finish in eighth place in a field of 15. Moore had three birdies and shot a personal-best 1-over-par 72 for 18 holes. Bailey had five birdies before settling for a 74. Haughs had a 96, Chloe Winn had a 115, and Audrey Widman had a 123. Winn lowered her score by eight strokes from the Kankakee Valley Invitational at Sandy Pines Golf Club Monday.

Noblesville, who finished second at state behind Zionsville last year, won with a 298. Westfield, who was fourth at state last year, shot a 314 and placed second. Both schools showed off their depth: Westfield’s “white” team shot a 332 and finished fourth, and Noblesville’s “gold” team shot a 337 and finished fifth.

Mount Vernon freshman Ressie Lemmon shot a 68 to earn medalist honors. Noblesville’s Josie Kelley, an Eastern Kentucky verbal commit who took sixth at state last year and who was one of Bailey’s playing partners, shot a 69. Moore tied for third overall.

Moore played the three par-5 holes in 2-under-par. She birdied No. 4 and No. 11. She also birdied the par-4 18th hole.

She was coming off a 77 at Sandy Pines Monday, where she finished fifth among individuals.

“Pretty good,” Moore said. “I’m still trying to process my 77. So that 72 is even better than that. I played really well. I had my bad shots, but I saved them with good putts.”

Moore said her short game is much better. She said she had only 29 putts Saturday, which she called “an insane amount.”

Rochester coach Dan Bailey praised Moore’s work ethic. He also noted that the greens, scorched from the hot weather, were comparable in speed to Sandy Pines

“She’s been working hard on her wedges and her putting,” coach Bailey said. “Made a little putter change. She hit it really good all the way from tee to green to where she wasn’t chipping or putting to save par; she had birdie looks and tap-in pars, so she hit it really well all day today.”

Coach Bailey praised Moore’s mental game after the Kankakee Valley Invitational. Moore said she has developed a short memory, which can be a good thing for a golfer.

“I’ll have a bad shot,” Moore said. “I don’t care. Even if I have a bad shot, you can still figure out how to get par and bogey. I think what I’ve figured out is bogey isn’t bad. Bogey is only one over that. It will obviously change your score but not by much. I think I figured out I can do better even if I have a bad shot.”

Olivia Bailey had even more birdies than Moore did, and she tied for sixth among individuals. Three of her five birdies came on par-3s, and she was the only player in the field to birdie the par-3 second hole. She also birdied Nos. 10 and 16, both par-3s, and she also birdied the par-5 fourth hole and the par-4 15th hole. Bailey later said that she did not have a birdie putt longer than 10 feet.

But after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16, she hit her driver out of bounds twice to the right on No. 17 and had to take a quadruple-bogey 8.

“She played really well today,” coach Bailey said. “Actually, a lot more birdies today than Sandy Pines. So all in all, hit it really good. She had one hole where she made two bad swings. A round of golf with two bad swings is OK. Still scored really well.”

Haughs birdied Nos. 8, 14 and 17, but she also had five holes in which she had a triple bogey or worse.

“It was kind of up and down,” coach Bailey said of Haughs’ round. “Lexi is her biggest critic, and I think sometimes she’s got to give herself a little bit of a break. But we have definitely identified what needs to improve a little bit. She struggled at the beginning of the year the first couple practices with her driver. And we got that squared away, and she’s hitting some really good drives now. She’s struggling with her short game now. Everything inside 100 yards, she’s just not hitting the way she wants to.”

Coach Bailey also described Winn and Widman’s progress as “tremendous.”

“I think both of them played one invitational last year, and then to come out this year and to be put in the group with some really good players, they did really well,” coach Bailey said. “We set some individual goals for all the girls, and most of them were not score-related. Chloe and Audrey both, either achieved all three of their goals or got two of the three, and anytime you do that in a round of golf, it’s really good. So I’m really happy with how they’re working at it and just keep taking one little step ahead.”

Kokomo Invitational

at Kokomo Country Club Saturday (par 71)

Noblesville (black) 298, Westfield (gold) 314, Lapel 326, Westfield (white) 332, Noblesville (gold) 337, Guerin Catholic 338, Tipton 345, ROCHESTER 356, Mount Vernon 358, Indianapolis Cathedral 372, Eastern (Greentown) 396, Plymouth 404, Kokomo 415, Lawrence Central 442, Lafayette Jeff 477

ROCHESTER (356): Molly Moore (36-36) 72, Olivia Bailey (37-37) 74, Lexi Haughs (51-45) 96, Chloe Winn (58-57) 115, (Audrey Widman (54-69) 123)