McCauley Overcomes VanArragon with Final-Nine 32

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COON RAPIDS -- Reese McCauley is young, and plays like it. 

The Simley junior has bigtime club head speed, which enables her to reach a lot of par 5s easily, and also hit high, soft shots and get at pins that most players can't get anywhere near. She makes a lot of birdies and quite a few eagles, too, but her gung-ho style can also get her into trouble, and she makes her share of bogeys. In the first round of the Class AAA portion of the Minnesota state high school tournament on Tuesday, she made only two pars on the back (West) nine at Bunker Hills GC, to go with an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys. She made another three birdies, and only one bogey, on the front (East)  nine, and the result was a 4-under-par 68.

That had her in second place, two behind the leader, Blaine senior Kathryn VanArragon, a two-time AAA winner and the defending champion.

Another youthful trait that McCauley possesses is that there are a lot of times when she's in contention to win a tournament but doesn't know how she stands. That was the case two years ago at the state high school tournament, when she had a slippery downhill, left-to-right breaking 6-footer for birdie on the last hole. It was the kind of putt that could get away from you if you got aggressive with it, and it would have been nice to know that all she needed to do was two-putt for the victory. But she didn't know that. Fortunately for her, she didn't get aggressive, and she was left with a 10-incher for her par -- and the victory. 

On Wednesday, McCauley did things a little differently. She minimized her risks and made only one bogey, the result of a three-putt at the eighth hole. 

She also knew how she stood, relative to VanArragon, as they came down the stretch.

"Yeah, I knew," she said, laughing at how out of character that seemed for her. "I asked my coach on the 15th tee, and he told me."

But McCauley didn't stop making birdies. She made five on Wednesday, and four of them on the back nine, as she came from behind to win her second Class AAA title. Her 32 on the inward nine gave her a secocnd consecutive 68, and the resulting 36-hole total of 136 was good enough for a two-shot victory. VanArragon was the runner-up at 138. It was another seven shots back to Amelia Morton of Maple Grove (the team. champion) and Lakeville South's Jovie Ordel. The two juniors tied for third. Orono sophomore Ava Hannemann was fifth at 147, and Wayzata's Saachi Deshmukh, another junior, finished seventh with a 150. 

VanArragaon, a University of St. Thomas recruit who was named Ms. Minnesota Golf for 2023 on Sunday, looked ready to cap off her distinguished high school career with another victory Wednesday until disaster struck on the last hole -- in the form of a mis-club from a fairway bunker.

"It was a good shot," she said afterward."I hit it the way I wanted to. But it was the wrong club."

The ball landed near the back of the 18th green, which is elevated, making it possibly the firmest green on the course, and there was a huge first bounce, down the hill. The  ball kept on going, across the road/cart path behind the green and settling on a downhill lie roughly 30 yards from the back of the 18th green. Her only chance of getting her third shot anywhere near the cup was to have her pitch shot land in the long rough behnd the green, take a couple of hops and barely trickle onto the back of the green. A ball that reached the green with any speed was going to end up 20, 30 or 40 feet past the cup. But instead of trickling onto the green, VanArragon pitch shot was swallowed by the rough before it could get back on the green.

"I probably needed to hit it another couple of feet," she lamented. 

Having started the second round with a two-stroke lead, VanArragon made it three when she birdied the par-5 fourth, but McCauley came right back with a birdie at the fifth, with a wedge shot to 20 feet, and VanArragon bogeyed the par-5 sixth, which reduced her lead to one. But the deficit increased to three once again when VanArragon birdied the eighth and McCauley bogeyed it.

McCauley began her back-nine charge with a birdie at the 10th hole, and she matched VanArragon's birdie at the par-5 11th by hitting a 9-iron onto the green and two-putting. When she parred the par-3 12th and VanArragon bogeyed it, the lead was down to one again. It appeared that McCauley might pull even -- or maybe even pull ahead -- at the par-5 14th, where VanArragon was in the greenside bunker in two, and McCauley was on the green, roughly 10 feet away, putting for eagle. Instead, VanArragon got up and down from the bunker, making a downhill 10 footer for her birdie, McCauley missed her putt for eagle, and VanArragon retained her slim lead.

She made another impressive par save at the 180-yard, par-3 17th, and it was another 10-foot putt that did the trick. But there wasn't much she could do from the position she found herself in after the turbo-charged fairway bunker shot at the 18th. 

Besides being the second AAA title for Reese McCauley, this was the third for her family. Her sister Bella won the AAA crown in 2019, when she tied the record for lowest winning score with a 135 (67-68). Bella is now at Minnesota, and made it to the NCAA Championships this spring. Reese still has one year of high school left, but she will join her sister at the U in the fall of 2024. 


Minnesota State High School Golf Championships

At Bunker Hills Golf Course

Class AAA Girls 

Par 72, 5,517 yards

Final results

Individuals

1. Reese McCauley, jr., Simley                      68-68--136

2. Kathryn VanArragon, sr., Blaine                 66-72--138

T3. Jovie Ordal, jr., Lakeville South               73-72--145

T3. Amelia Morton, jr., Maple Grove              74-71--145

5. Ava Hanneman, soph., Orono                   74-73--147

6. Saachi Deshmukh, jr., Wayzata                 75-73--148

7. Emerson Garlie, jr., Northfield                   76-74--150 

8. Nicole Reineke, sr., Chaska                     74-77--151
 
9. Lily Vincelli, jr., Cretin-Derham Hall          79-73--152

T10. Hanna Knoop, jr., Detroit Lakes           76-77--153

T10. Hannah Boraas, sr., Alexandria           76-77--153

T10. Kieley Hanson, Minnetonka.                80-73--153

Teams 

1. Maple Grove                               315-310--625

2. Wayzata                                      320-315--635

3. Minnetonka.                                331-317--648

4. Detroit Lakes                              333--320--653

5. Lakeville South.                          347-328--675

6. Elk River                                    341-338--679

7. East Ridge                                 356-343--699

7. Mahtomedi.                                354-347--701