All-Region girls golf: Faith Udy

Taylor Hartley, Jr., Union

Shelby LaTourrette, Sr., Hockinson

Kaitlyn Michaelson, Sr., Prairie

Hailey Oster, Fr., Camas

Bridget Standard, Jr., Fort Vancouver

Reilly Whitlock, Jr., Union

The best day of Faith Udy’s high school golf career was the last one.

On the second day of the Class 2A state tournament, the Woodland High senior posted the best score of her career to finish tied for second place.

And her final stroke made it happen.

Udy made a 30-foot putt to cap an 18-hole second day with a 75 at Meadowwood Golf Course in Spokane. That score was eight strokes better than her first-day total and four better than she’d scored for 18 holes in high school golf.

Her two-round total of 158 was 19 strokes behind champion Kendee Peters of Ephrata. But it tied Grace Frazier from Clarkston for second place in the tournament and was the best score posted by any Southwest Washington player at a girls golf state tournament this spring.

That last putt is one she will long remember.

“It broke kind of uphill and to broke to the right. And it just barely rolled in and died in the hole.

“I remember (thinking) how did I even make that putt?” she said. “It was crazy.”

The day did not start fortuitously. After she double-bogeyed the second hole, Udy said she tried to remind herself to stay positive and have fun.

“I was like, senior year you just got to go for it,” she said. “I just tried my best to stay positive and flush all the negative stuff that happened and focus on the positive.”

It probably settled her nerves, she said, that Peters was 12 strokes ahead after the first day of the state tournament. There was no pressure to chase a championship, only to finish strong. That was in contrast to the Class 2A District 4 tournament, which Udy led by four strokes after the first day, then held on to win by a stroke despite struggling over the final nine holes.

Udy wasn’t sure she ever wanted to start with this golf thing. Her father, Troy, encouraged his daughter to take up the game he loves. But it wasn’t until the eighth grade that Faith took a swing at the sport.

“I think I was just being a stubborn kid. But I am so glad that I decided to pursue it because I’ve really fallen in love with the sport,” she said.

The sport can, of course, be frustrating. But she said golf helped her to better deal with frustrations in school, too.