VanArragon Wins Again, This Time in U.S. Junior Qualifying; Salonek Gets 2nd Spot

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STILLWATER -- If there was any doubt about it before Tuesday, Kathryn VanArragon put an even tighter grip on the 2023 Ms. Minnesota Golf Award. The award, which goes each year to the state's top senior girl golfer, will be presented Sunday night, during the annual Mr. & Ms. Minnesota Golf Awards Banquet at Windsong Farm Golf Club.

The two-time -- and defending -- state Class AAA champion lost only twice this spring during the regular high school season. In the Section 5AAA tournament, which was played at the Links at Northfork, she shot 66-68--144 (10 under par) and won by 15 strokes. On Tuesday, the Blaine senior wasn't playing in a high school event, but some of Minnesota's best high school golfers were entered in the US Girls Junior Qualifying at Oak Glen Golf Course, and Vanarragon won yet again. She shot a 4-under 68 and finished two ahead of Oliviia Salonek and Lauryn Finley.

There were only two spots available; so that meant a playoff. Salonek won it, getting up and down for pars on the par-4 first hole and par-5 second. Finley, after hitting what looked like a pretty good wedge shot to the second green, found herself facing a double- or maybe triple-breaking putt from 30 feet. She pulled her birdie putt and missed the next one -- for par -- from about 6 feet. As a result, she is the first alternate for the Girls Junior, which will be played July 17-22 on the Eisenhower Golf Course at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

Maura Peters of Bettendorf, Iowa, finished fourth with a 71, and she is the second alternate. 

VanArragon announced herself to the Minnesota golf audience in 2018, when when she became the youngest champion of a state high school tournament by winning the Class AAA title with a 36-hole total of 143 at Bunker Hills -- as a 5-foot-4-inch seventh grader. She won again last year in a state tournament that featured three former champions -- and three scores under 140 for the first time ever. VanArragon tied the record for lowest winning score with a 135 (65-70) and won by two over Bella McCauley, who had shot 135 when she won in 2019. McCauley's younger sister Reese, the 2021 AAA winner, finished third last year with a 139.

The now 5-8 VanArragon made six birdies on Tuesday, three of them on par 5s, beginning with the second.

"I didn't hit any of those greens in two," she said afterward, "but I was chipping and got the chips fairly close."

She bogeyed the short (120-yard) par-3 sixth, but birdied the 490-yard, par-5 eighth and closed out her. front nine with a birdie at the par-4 ninth (372 yards). Her back nine followed a similar pattern. She birdied the 486-yard, par-5 11th, gave back a stroke on the next hole, the par-3 12th (158 yards), but birdied the par-5 14th (502) and the par-4 15th (335).  

Salonek had a smooth ride on the front nine, seven pars plus birdies at the 298-yard, par-4 fourth and the par-5 eighth, but things got bumpy on the back nine.She birdied the par-5 11th and the 13th, only to lose three strokes on the next two holes with a double at the par-5 14th and a bogey at the 15th. She got back to 2 under and reserved her spot in the playoff by making a birdie at the 175-yard, par-3 16th. 

Two years ago, when she was a sophomore at Roseville, Salonek finished second in Class AAA, one stroke behind Reese McCauley, in the state high school tournaments, and she would have been considered one of the main challengers, along with McCauley (who won the Section 3AAA tournament by 17 shots), to Vanarragon this year -- except that she graduated early and isn't playing high school golf for the Raiders this spring.

"I missed playing in the section," she conceded, "and I'll miss playing in the state tournament, but not most of the other tournaments."

Instead, she has played in a few outside tournaments, and having signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Iowa last fall, she will join the Hawkeye golf team in August. 

Finley came back from a first-round 78 in the state high school tournament with a second-round 70 last year, when she was at Eastview, and finished seventh in Class AAA with a 148. But she will also be missing from the high school tournament this year. She's now going to high school in Lake Mary, Fla. She bogeyed the par-4 seventh Tuesday, birdied the eighth, and got to 3 under with consecutive birdies at the 365-yard, pa inr-4 10th, the 11th and the par-3 12th, but bogeyed the 315-yard, par-4 17th, which is how she ended up in the playoff. 

In the playoff, Finley had a 12-footer for birdie on the first hole, but missed. Salonek miss-hit her 110-yard second shot and left it 5 yards short of the green. She wound up making a 5-footer for her par. On the par-5 second, she left her wedge shot just short of the green, but that was a mistake she was willing to make, rather than go beyond the pin. She chipped to 3 feet and made the par putt. Finley hit her wedge right over the flag, but knew that wasn't where she wanted to be.

"I knew I didn't want to be long," she said. "And I really pulled my first putt."     


US Girls Junior Qualifying

At Oak Glen Golf Course

Par 72, 5,934 yards

Final results (2 players qualify, and 2 alternates are named)

1. Kathryn VanArragon, Blaine                          68

2. Olivia Salonek, Roseville                              70 (won playoff -- par, par)

3. Lauryn Finley, Lakle Mary, Fla.                     70 (1st alternate)

4. Maura Peters, Bettendorf, Iowa                    71 (2nd alternate)

Did not qualify

T5. Amelia Morton, Maple Grove                     73

T5. Kendace Lee, Bellaire, Texas                    73

T7. Sarah Armstroong, Canada                       75

T7. Ava Hanneman, Orono                              75

T9. Kieley Hansen, Chanhassen                     76

T9. Bella Leonhart, Marine on St. Croix.         76

T9. Siyu Wu, Eden Prairie                               76