Ava Ray knew playing competitive golf wasn’t always sunshine and soft approach shots, but Saturday provided additional proof nonetheless.
The Franklin senior’s final round as a high school player included a little bit of everything — including a rain delay of more than two hours.
Ray finished third among the 92 individuals taking part in both rounds of the state finals at Prairie View Golf Club, her two-over-par total of 146 two shots behind Lapel junior Macy Beeson, who secured medalist honors for a second consecutive year.
Despite the challenges associated with a stoppage of play, Ray actually fared better on Saturday, her 72 nicely complementing the 74 she produced in Friday’s opening round.
“I played the front nine really well both days, but then it starts to rain, and I think it’s just how you handle adversity,” said Ray, who was in the early stages of playing the back nine when tournament officials halted play at 11:42 a.m. “Everybody was out on the course playing at the same time, so it’s how you handle it as a player.”
Ray had also qualified for state as a junior, tying for 32nd with an 88-80—168.
This time around, a year of maturity coupled with her competitive spirit put Ray near the top of the leaderboard while enduring Prairie View’s — and Mother Nature’s — various tests with playing partners Beeson and Harley Gant of Columbus East.
The left-handed Beeson shot 70 the first day and held off challengers with a 74 on Saturday.
“I have never played in a tournament that I haven’t wanted to win, so obviously, it’s a hard loss,” Ray said. “At the same time, I don’t really view it as losing. If you had asked me last year if I would be able to come out and really compete for the title, I would have told you maybe or probably not because last year … I hated this course.
“I had to somewhat convince myself this was doable. I played it a few times over the summer, and I really got into the groove of actually starting to love holes and believing I could do it.”
Once play was suspended, players and coaches congregated inside the Prairie View clubhouse or headed to their team bus.
Play started back up at 2 p.m.
Center Grove finished eight among the 15 teams with its one senior starter, Lanie DeHaven, shooting an 83 to go along with Friday’s first-round 84.
“The atmosphere is great,” DeHaven said. “It’s more challenging and the players are much more advanced, so this is a good start for the younger kids. It’s always great to be here, especially after not doing so my freshman and sophomore years.
“I don’t think I played as well (Friday), but today I came back. I had a rough front nine, but definitely came back from shooting 46 on the front to 39 on the back.”
DeHaven’s play earned her 40th place individually with the Trojans scoring 35 shots better as a team than last season, when they tied Noblesville for eighth in the team standings.
Sophomore Camille Short led the Trojans by tying for 21st (80-78—158), followed by DeHaven, soph Lexi Stuart (89-85—174) and junior Sage Parsetich (83-92—175). The No. 5 spot in the lineup was split, with Rowen Pfeifle shooting 89 on Friday and Abby Rich an 81 on Saturday.
Center Grove coach Cale Hoover can’t help but be excited about the next two or three seasons, seeing that five of the six players in his lineup over the weekend return next season. Moreover, four of them are being counted on to lead the team two years from now.
“We have definitely performed better than last year,” Hoover said. “A lot of positives that we’re going to build off of, and you look at graduation, it’s going to happen for everybody, and we’re going to bring back a lot of experience.
“We’re going to have five players next year who have all played in this event. There aren’t going to be many teams that can say that, so that should only help us.”
