Yoemans Claims Third Title of the Season by Winning the Minnesota State Junior Girls' Championship

July 11, 2017 | 5 min.


By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  FARIBAULT, Minn. – Posting a final-round 72 Tuesday at Legacy Golf, Sophia Yoemans erased a slim deficit to win the 72nd Minnesota State Junior Girls’ Championship by two shots for her third state title this season.

Yoemans now joins a select group along with Anni Heck, Sarah Burnham and Katie Detlefsen as the only players in recent history to win a state high school individual title, the Minnesota State Junior Girls’ Championship, a Minnesota Junior Girls’ PGA Championship and qualify for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.

The only difference is that Yoemans accomplished all four in the same season.

“Starting at sections is when I started hitting the ball more consistently and my putts started dropping and I gained some confidence there,” Yoemans said after breaking the Section 1AAA tournament record by eight shots in early June. “That’s carried me through the last month by hitting the ball well and my mental game, too.”

Entering Tuesday’s final round one shot back of Herzog, Yoemans took the lead early with a birdie on the opening hole and a bogey by Herzog at the second.

Adding her second birdie of the round at the fifth, Yoemans increased her lead to two, but gave back a stroke at the sixth as her and Herzog would remain deadlocked until the 10th, where Yoemans was unable to get up-and-down for par after missing the green with her approach to the left.

Trailing Herzog for the next six holes, the tournament shifted in Yoemans’ favor at the par-5 17th where she watched as Herzog’s second shot from the fairway found the hazard, leading to bogey. Yoemans converted her birdie putt from eight feet above the hole to take the lead with one hole to play.

Herzog was unable to get up-and-down from the left greenside bunker and Yoemans two-putted for a two-stroke victory.

“I was trying to do the same thing as yesterday and hit the ball really well and hopefully, some of my putts would drop,” Yoemans said Tuesday. “Historically I’m not very good on the back nine, but I was just trying to make par and not be super aggressive,” she said after trailing Herzog with four holes to play. “I wanted to hit greens, hit fairways and make some putts.”

After her win Tuesday, Yoemans credited her recent successes to her play off the tee.

“My driver was very consistent this week—I was in the fairway or right around it,” she said. “I was never in the water or out of bounds.”

Showing glimpses of her talent each of the past two seasons, it hasn’t been a matter of if Yoemans is an elite player, but simply when that elite player would emerge.

She finished tied for fourth at the Minnesota State Junior Girls’ in 2014 at Tartan Park before finishing as runner-up to Red Wing teammate Stephanie Herzog at the Minnesota Junior Girls’ PGA Championship last year at The Jewel Golf Club.

Yoemans notched an impressive sixth-place finish at the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship prior to her sophomore year in high school.

This season, Yoemans collected her first victory by finishing as co-medalist with Joanna Kim at the Class AAA state championship in June.

She followed that victory by shooting a 71 at Emerald Greens Golf Club to earn a spot in the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in Missouri beginning June 24. Yoemans, who will be a junior at Red Wing this fall, finished second behind teammate Stephanie Herzog at the 2017 Midwest Junior Championship in Iowa City two weeks ago, highlighted by a 71 during the second round.

On Saturday, Yoemans carded a second straight round of 74 to earn medalist honors at the Minnesota Junior Girls’ PGA Championship, earning a trip to the national championship along with Leah Herzog.

A strong start but a disappointing finish for Leah Herzog Tuesday, carding bogeys at both the 17th and 18th holes, and three of her last four, to finish second to Yoemans by two strokes.

Herzog played her front nine during the opening round at 1-over before tallying three bogeys on the back to shoot a 2-under 70 to take the lead ahead of Tuesday’s final round.

“I just wanted to play one shot at a time—I didn’t want to get ahead of myself,” she said. “I wasn’t worried about the outcome, just trying my hardest.”

A pair of birdies during the front nine Tuesday was negated by two bogeys as Herzog turned at even par with a one-stroke lead over Yoemans.

Struggling off the tee early on the back, Herzog scrambled well by making key up-and-downs at both the 11th and 12th to maintain a slim advantage over Yoemans, but couldn’t hang on down the stretch to relinquish the lead late.

“After my front nine I felt pretty good, but the back nine you still have to come through, too. I was hoping to play a little better on the back,” a dejected Herzog said Tuesday. “I didn’t hit many fairways and was in the rough almost every hole. I wasn’t making the birdie putts that I needed.

“It was a good experience to play in the final group and to play with my friend and teammate—I’m proud of her.”

At 15-years-old, the younger Herzog played a key role in Red Wing’s success and runner-up finish at the state tournament during the 2017 high school season, finishing seventh individually.

On the heels of her Red Wing teammates a year ago, Herzog finished tied for sixth at the Minnesota Junior Girls’ PGA Championship.

Alexandra Stone began the final round in third place Tuesday and fired a 2-over par 74 to finish in third place at 147, while Isabella McCauley fired a round of even par Tuesday to finish tied for third with Stephanie Herzog at 149.

 

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