Golf teams take first in district competition

La Conner High School golfers dealt with tough conditions last Thursday in Oak Harbor, but at the end of the day their outlook could not have been sunnier.

The boys and girls golf teams weathered drizzly skies and harsh gusts to blow past the competition in post-season tournament play as the Lady Braves – led by senior standout Emma Worgum, a Western Washington University recruit – captured top district honors, advancing from bi-district trials as state 2B qualifiers.

“It was pretty breezy and rainy out there,” said La Conner head coach Jamie Carroll, the golf pro at Swinomish Links. “Everybody handled it pretty well, though.”

Next up for the girls is a date at the state tourney May 24-25 at Deer Park near Spokane.

Worgum, who has been among the state’s elite junior golfers for several years, was the Northwest 2B/1B girls’ medalist by carding an 80, the afternoon’s low score among both boys and girls.

“She really managed her game well,” Carroll said.

Worgum and teammates Abigail Udlock, Natalee Koch and Hallie Walls clinched a state berth after they tied Orcas Island for the girls’ bi-district crown.

The girls’ shorter bracket, with fewer teams entered than on the boys’ side, allowed district and bi-district matches to be held simultaneously.

The boys’ team moves on to the bi-district bracket May 19 at Loomis Trails in Blaine. They will be looking to lock up slots in the boys’ state rounds, also May 24-25 in Deer Park.

For the boys, Gage Tenborg shot a 90 to place third on the individual leaderboard. Moving on with him will be Brooks Bushey, an eighth grader, Luke Marble and Samuel Williams.

Corran Eisen fell just one shot shy of a playoff from which he, too, might have advanced.

“We have a lot of young golfers this year,” Carroll said, “but they’ve continued to work at it, figure things out and get better as the season has gone on.”

Several of the golfers have practiced together through the Grass Roots Golf Foundation (GRGF) at Swinomish Links.

It has helped, of course, to have Worgum as a role model. She provides leadership by example and through encouragement to the underclassmen.

Bushey, a middle school honor roll student, was invited by Carroll earlier this year to join the team. That move has been rewarded throughout the spring and especially on Thursday.

“He’s been doing pretty good,” Carroll said, “and at Oak Harbor he put together one of his better rounds of the year.”

Results from Oak Harbor show more big events loom ahead for La Conner golf.