Golf in Salida in March?
Just not happening. About the closest Emily Wood gets to keeping her swing in shape is an 8-iron in her backyard to a field.
Her house serves as a makeshift mini-golf course to work on putting.
“It keeps me in form,” said the defending Class 4A champion, whose official high school season doesn’t get underway until April 1. “We will play, it will just have to be around the snow.”
If ever there was an argument to move the girls golf season to the fall, this would be it.
The expectations surrounding Wood since her freshman season finally came to fruition last year at Patty Jewett Golf Course in Colorado Springs. Wood, who tied for sixth as a sophomore and was an outright sixth as a freshman, was seven shots better than Regis Jesuit’s Kathleen Kershisnik as a junior.
“When I won the state tournament, I was really happy, but I’ve settled down, and I have to realize this is just one more season of high school golf,” Wood said. “My goals last season were to shoot in the 60s and win state, and the lowest score I carded was 70. So, the goals remain the same this year.”
The 4A state tournament (May 24-25) moves to where Wood learned the game, Montrose. The Bridges Golf Club is a place the 4A field is going to get more and more familiar with in April and May.
“I’m excited to go back there, it’s sort of come full circle,” Wood said. “That’s where it all started, and that’s where I get to finish my high school career.”
It won’t stop there for Wood, who signed in November to play golf at Wyoming, despite the urging from friends to go to play somewhere warmer.
“But why would I do that, when Laramie is so much like being here?” she said.
Girls golf preview
Start of season: March 4
State championships: May 24-25, Class 5A: Common Ground G.C. (Aurora); 4A: The Bridges Golf Club (Montrose)
Class 5A
Top-five teams: 1. Cherry Creek, 2. Fort Collins, 3. Arapahoe, 4. Overland, 5. Mountain Range.
Players to watch:
Paige Crawford, Doherty, Sr.
Andi Hibbert, Lakewood, Sr.
Gina Larson, Skyline, Sr.
Shinwoo Lee, Cherry Creek, So.
Somin Lee, Overland, Jr.
Sarah Moore, Arapahoe, Sr.
Forre Zook, Palmer, Sr.
Class 4A
Top-five teams: 1. Rock Canyon, 2. Regis Jesuit, 3. Kent Denver, 4. Wheat Ridge, 5. Pueblo South.
Players to watch:
Justine Kemp, Cheyenne Mountain, Sr.
Kathleen Kershisnik, Regis Jesuit, So.
Lindsay McGetrick, Valor Christian, So.
Alexandra Pedrinan, Rock Canyon, Sr.
Christina Spinzig, Evergreen, Sr.
Emily Wood, Salida, Sr.
