High school golf: Favorites ready to tee up in golf championships

Girls high school golf has progressed nicely in its three years of existence.

More young girls are taking up the game, local clubs are devoting a bigger effort to getting girls involved and the high school coaches no longer have to beg students to participate.

But the sport still hasn't arrived to the point where you can call any of the state's prep teams power programs yet. As expected, the schools with links to a public course that provides more access to the golf course and practice facilities tend to be a little more competitive.

Overall, however, there's pretty good balance in girls golf at the high school level. That's why there are several teams in each classification capable of taking home state championship trophies this week.

The 1A/2A girls have their 18-hole match set for Wednesday at Oquirrh Hills. Also on Wednesday, the 4A girls tee it up at Davis Park. The 3A championship is scheduled for Thursday at Meadowbrook, with the 5A tournament set to take place the same day at Glendale.

The format again this year will be a modified Stableford scoring system, where the players get points on scores from double-eagle to quadruple-bogey. Obviously, the better the score on a hole the more points earned. The team with the highest total of points from its top three of four players will take home the state trophy. The individual title goes the player who scores the most points.

The 5A tournament features the state's top two players - Bingham's Sirene Blair and Skyline's Nicole Gaddie. The Miners, with Megan Terry, and the Eagles, with Katie Felt, are the two favored teams as well.

The two most balanced teams, which are both capable of winning the title, are Alta and Brighton. The Hawks are led by Hannah Herman and Sierra Monson. The Bengals are led by Heather Mathison, and sisters Kiki and Cobair Collinsworth. Other top individual golfers are Tara Green from Weber, Alli Cluff from Fremont, and Nyomy Obeemea of Northridge.

Based on season scoring, there are several teams that could take home the 4A crown. The most balanced team appears to be Highland, with Lauren Kirch, Madeleine Kmetzsch, Madi Cardon and Caitlin Croft each having a scoring average in the low 80s.

Bonneville and Orem are both led by sister combos. The Lakers are getting steady play from Lea and Jamie Garner. The Tigers are led by Stina and Kim Nyhus. Ogden, Tooele and Timpanogos are very capable of winning the championship. The top 4A players are Dixie's Nicole Thomas, Ogden's Courtney Smith and Pine View's Jasmine Candland.