Johnson Wins Individual Title, and NDSU Wins the Team at Torrey Pines
March 27, 2024
By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com)
CHASKA -- Grace Kellar has been one of the Minnesota's best young golfers for the last couple of years. Her success in both high school and junior tournaments has been mainly a function of her consistency. She's never been known for lighting up courses with birdies, eagles and lots of really low scores, but rather for never being all that far from par.
In the last two state high school tournaments, for example, she has finished fourth and tied for fourth. She posted a pair of 77's in 2015 on her way to a 36-hole total of 154 and a solo fourth-place finish in the Class AAA portion of the tournament. This year, the Edina junior put together a pair of 75's, and the resulting aggregate of 150 got her a share of fourth, and she was only one stroke out of a tie for second.
Before Tuesday, Kellar's lowest 18-hole score in any individual tournament was 72, although she did shoot 71 once in a four-ball event. But she had never broken 70.
That changed in the first round of the Minnesota Junior Girls State Championship, as Kellar put on a spectacular display of power golf on the front nine at Chaska Town Course, and then sort of held on over the last six holes to finish with a 3-under-par 69.
She will take a two-stroke lead over Red Wing's Stephanie Herzog into Wednesday's final round. Taylor Ledwein, the two-time state Class AAA individual champion from New Prague, is another stroke back at even-par 72, and then it's another four back to Elk River's Morgan Bleyhl in fourth at 76.
Chaska TC is not an easy golf course.
Kate Smith, the five-time state Class AA high school champ from Detroit Lakes, shot 77 on Tuesday and is tied for fifth, along with Brianna Vetter.
Anni Heck, the 2015 MGA Girls Junior Player of the Year and the defending Girls Junior champion (the Visitation junior also tied Smith for the Class AA title in June), had a 78. So did Edina's Hannah Hankinson, who has finished second to Ledwein in Class AAA each of the last two years.
But what makes Chaska TC fun is that it gives a player a chance to make a bunch of birdies -- if she can hit the ball where she's aiming.
And it doesn't hurt to have some pop in your tee ball, which all three of the girls at the top of the leaderboard do. Ledwein is probably the longest hitter in Minnesota girls junior golf right now, averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 265 yards with her driver, and Kellar isn't far behind her.
She wasted no time in demonstrating that on Tuesday, as she drove the green at the downhill, 305-yard first hole and two-putted for a birdie, the first of six that she would make on the front side.
At the 260-yard, par-4 third, Kellar's tee shot ended up just short of the green, and she chipped close for another easy birdie. She hit a sand wedge to 15 feet at the 100-yard, par-3 fourth and a 9-iron to within 25 feet at the 331-yard, par-4 fifth, and made both putts to go 4 under after five holes.
The seventh hole is a 495-yard, par-5, and she just missed the green with a 6-iron second shot from 180 yards. Her chip was less than great, but she made a 10-foot putt for birdie, and she capped off her blistering outward nine by making a 30-footer from the fringe at the ninth (511 yards, par 5) for yet another birdie -- and a front nine 30.
Kellar, who plays out of Olympic Hills, wasn't quite finished with her assault on par. She hit her tee shot into a fairway bunker at the 10th (379, par 4), but recovered in sensational fashion with a 150-yard 8-iron shot to within 6 inches of the cup. She tapped in -- and was 7 under par.
The tee at the 11th hole was moved up Tuesday to make it play 336 yards, which created an awkward tee shot, and Kellar blocked hers to the right. All she could do from there was punch out, and she wound up making a double bogey 6. Her tee shot at the 132-yard, par-3 12th also went right. It caught the edge of the green, but she three-putted from there for a bogey.
"I felt really confident on the front nine, and I was having fun," Kellar said after the round. "I hardly thought about being under par. But on the back nine, I think it started catching up to me, and I was thinking about my score -- and breaking 70 for the first time -- a lot more."
Nevertheless, after the 12th, she settled down and parred five of the last six holes. The only lapse came at the 17th hole (310, par 4), where she missed the green and had to settle for a bogey.
Herzog, like Kellar, just finished her junior year of high school, and both girls have made college commitments, Herzog to Iowa and Kellar to Minnesota. (They can't sign National Letters of Intent until November.)
On Wednesday, they were in the same threesome, and if this had been a four-ball tournament, their combined score would have been 63, because all four of Herzog's birdies came on holes that Kellar didn't birdie, beginning with the second hole (365, par 4).
Herzog hit 14 greens in regulation, but ironically, one of her misses came at the short third hole. She made a bogey there, and she three-putted the green at the fifth to go 1 over.
Standing on the 11th tee, she was still 1 over -- and eight behind Kellar -- but she chipped in for a birdie at the 11th. She made a 30-footer for birdie at the 472-yard, par-5 15th and a 10-footer at the 276-yard, par-4 16th. Her only bogey on the back nine was the result of a three-putt at the 17th.
Ledwein put her length to good use. She birdied two of the short par-4's (3 and 16) and two par-5's (7 and 18), as well as the 154-yard, par-3 sixth. But she made three bogeys and she, too, doubled the 11th.
"I played pretty well," she said, "but my putter saved me a few times."
Ledwein, Herzog and Kellar will tee off in the final group on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.
Minnesota Junior Girls State Championship
At Chaska Town Course
Par 72, 5,705 yards
Chaska
First-round results
1. Grace Kellar, Olympic Hills 69
2. Stephanie Herzog, Red Wing 71
3. Taylor Ledwein, New Prague 72
4. Morgan Bleyhl, Elk River 76
T5. Brianna Vetter, Bracketts Crossing 77
T5. Kate Smith, Ironman 77
T7. Hannah Hankinson, Edina 78
T7. Anni Heck, Southview 78
T7. Sarah Sontowski, Baker National 78
10. Joanna Kim, Edinburgh USA 79
T11. Alayna Eldred, Osakis 80
T11. Megan Welch, Bracketts Crossing 80
T13. Jade Newman, Bunker Hills 81
T13. Alexandra Geolat, The Jewel 81
T15. Emma Welch, Bracketts Crossing 82
T15. Taylor Minger, Edinbrugh USA 82
T15. Janice Kim, Edinburgh USA 82
T18. Leah Herzog, Red Wing 83
T18. Molly Stevens, Northfield 83
T20. Christine Portillo, Olympic Hills 84
T20. Julia Hall, Burl Oaks 84
March 15, 2024
Contact Us
Have a question about the Minnesota Golf Association, your MGA membership or the contents of this website? Let us help.