High school girls golf: Super soph Sirene Blair leads Miners to another title

SOUTH JORDAN — In only her sophomore year in high school, it's already about time for Bingham's Sirene Blair to start thinking about adding another shelf to her trophy case.

For the second consecutive season, Blair was able to hold the individual medalist in one hand and the state championship in the other.

Blair finished 4-under par — five strokes ahead of second-place finisher Tara Green of Weber — while Bingham High School claimed its second straight 5A girls golf title with a combined score of 233 at Glenmoor Golf Course Wednesday.

"I just felt really relaxed today. I'm confident of what I can do — so I just let it happen," said Blair. "I think it's a really great accomplishment, and I'm really proud of myself for what I did, and I'm just really excited for next year."

Blair's round was highlighted by a spectacular birdie on the 320-yard par-4 14th hole.

From the tee box, she crushed her drive straight down the fairway and placed herself 50 yards from the pin.

"I thought I was hitting my driver really well today," said Blair. "I hardly missed any fairways."

On the ensuing approach shot, Blair used her wedge and placed herself inches away from the cup for a tap-in birdie to separate herself even more from Green, who had birdied the previous hole to close the gap.

"Wedges could have improved a little bit," Blair said, "but I hit some nice tight ones in there so I felt thought I did pretty good overall. I set myself up for a great opportunity and I just capitalized on it."

"She's really great," added Bingham freshman Sam Crawford, who placed fourth. "We just go out and have a good time. She's a great golfer."

Blair, Green, Alta's Hannah Herman, Crawford, Davis' Carly Oldroyd, Layton's Haley Dunn, Copper Hills' Mikayu Booth, Brighton's Heather Mathison, Weber's Erin Baker and Layton's Melissa Hadfield completed the top 10 golfers.

All 10 were named to the 5A All-State team.

In the days leading up to the tournament the playability of the course was a major concern because of harsh weather, which would directly lead to much higher scores than previous years.

The concern proved valid.

Only eight players were able to produce 70-plus points in the Stableford scoring system, where as only three exceeded 80 points — compared to last season where 13 players were able to hit the 70 point mark and six surpassed 80 points.

Bingham was able to edge out second-place Weber (224) by a mere nine points with both teams producing two top-10 finishers.

The Miners capturing the state title came as no surprise after one of the most dominating seasons in recent past where they were able to win several region tournaments by as much as 43-strokes.

Alta (215), Layton (205), Davis (200), Skyline (193), Brighton (187), Copper Hills (179), Fremont (175) and Lone Peak (171) rounded out the top overall team scores.

5A State Girls Golf Tournament

At Glenmoor Golf Course

Wednesday

Team Scores

1. Bingham, 233; 2. Weber, 224; 3. Alta, 215; 4. Layton, 205; 5. Davis, 200; 6. Skyline, 193; 7. Brighton, 187; 8. Copper Hills, 179; 9. Fremont 175; 10. Lone Peak, 171.

Individual Scores

1. Sirene Blair, Bingham, 94; 2. Tara Green, Weber, 89; 3. Hannah Herman, Alta, 80; 4. Sam Crawford, Bingham, 79; 5. Carly Oldroyd, Davis, 78; 6. Haley Dunn, Layton, 77; 7. Mikayu Booth, Copper Hills, 74; 8. Heather Mathison, Brighton, 73; Erin Baker, Weber, 73; 10. Melissa Hadfield, Layton, 69; 11. Megan Terry, Herriman, 68; Tavia Rasmussen, Alta, 68; 13. Alex Larsen, Skyline, 67; Brook Slade, Taylorsville, 67; Nicole Jack, Alta, 67; 16. Chelsea Howard, Davis, 64; Audry Kriss, Hillcrest, 64; Markie Grondel, Fremont, 64; Alex Marble, Skyline, 64. 20. Sarina Leete, Roy, 62; Melissa Muir, Skyline, 62.

email: tphibbs@desnews.com