Clark/Willow Lake’s Brynn Roehrich is the state ‘B’ girls golf champion for this year. The Cyclones freshman completed the two-day tournament at +12 – a six stroke lead over Jayce Pugh of Miller who shot +18 and placed second.
Last year, as an eighth grader, Roehrich finished runner-up. And after the first round of this year’s tournament on Monday, she was sitting in third, three strokes off the lead. But going into the second round on Tuesday, she said she felt determined.
“I came into it [Tuesday] three strokes down. I knew that I was in a good spot. Good for Jadyn [McDonald] and Jacye [Pugh], they shot very great scores the first day, and I knew that I could have done better the first day too,” explained Roehrich. “I came into [day two] knowing I had to play my game. Whatever they shot, they were going to shoot, so I just shot the best I could. I shot a 73, and I got the job done.”
Jayce Pugh of Chester shot a 77 on Monday, but an 81 on Tuesday. Jadyn McDonald of Chester shot a 76 on Monday, but an 83 on Tuesday. Most of the golfers who placed in the Top-25 for the tournament shot much better day one than day two, and a lot of that is due to the weather. Rainy and windy conditions became a part of the second round, especially for the back-nine. But for Brynn Roehrich, she shot six strokes better in the poor conditions than she did the day before in gorgeous conditions for golf.
“I told my mom and dad [Tuesday] morning, that I was excited if it was going to rain, because I tend to play better in bad conditions than what I do in good conditions,” Roehrich stated. “So, I was pretty excited when it started to rain.”
On her final three holes of the tournament, she shot one-under-par. Roehrich birdied 16, then pared 17 and 18 to complete the win.
“I was on my third to last hole, and my coach was there with me, and I really wanted to ask him how I was sitting, but I didn’t. I didn’t know if my score from my first nine today, shooting a 37, and then going right back and shooting a 36, I didn’t know if it was going to be good enough, because I hadn’t had the other girls score cards that were close enough to me,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know what they were going to shoot. I think when I rolled in my last putt, and everybody came up and gave me a hug and said “you’re a state champion,” like, it kind of took a little bit for it to settle in my mind.”
Roehrich is the first girls golfer from Clark/Willow Lake to win a state title since Kim Kaufman. She was a four-time state champion in girls golf, and today plays on the LPGA Tour as a pro.
“She actually texted me after [the round] and said “great job, and if you have any questions for me, feel free to message me,” and I told her “I hope I can be as good as her one day,” because she’s playing at the pro level, and I hope I can get to do that at some point,” told Roehrich.
As a freshman, Roehrich has a bright future. She’ll certainly have more opportunities like this in the future, but for now she wants to celebrate this one.
“I would say really rewarding. It’s a great thing to do,” she said. “I went undefeated all of this year, I didn’t lose a single meet, so I’m pretty proud of that. It’s nice to finally get it done this year, so hopefully I can do it for years to come.”
