Over the summer Millikan’s Hailey Stoskopf spent her time working at a golf camp at Recreation Park Golf Course.
When she wasn’t working, she was on the course honing her craft and playing a lot of golf. So, when the final day of play ended up being at Recreation Park – she felt confident that she’d be able to hold onto her five-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Moore League Individual Tournament.
Stoskopf did just that as she shot a 158 over the three-day tournament to be crowned the Moore League Girls’ Golf champion on Thursday.
“I knew this course like the back of my hand,” Stoskopf said. “That definitely made me feel a lot more comfortable. I knew which shot to hit no matter where I was because I played basically every shot here.”
While Stoskopf led wire-to-wire the rest of the field jockeyed for position the last two days trying to be one the top four finishers that would move onto the CIF Individual tournament and one of the top eight that would be named All-Moore League.
Millikan sophomore Jasmine Lim made one of the biggest jumps to one of the top four positions after being in 6th on day one after shooting a 45. But, Lim bounced back over the second round to finish second after shooting a 164.
“I had pretty rough round on the first day,” Lim said. “I got like three bogeys, it was pretty tough. But then, my mom told me to keep my cool up and my head down and then I shot a 40 – just four over on the second day. Which I was pretty happy about and that motivated me heading into today.”
Stoskopf and Lim were big parts of why the Millikan team repeated as the Moore League team champions this season and the Rams had great showings on the final day as Isabel Lopez (5th), Lillian Kotlarski (6th) and Janelle Pulido (7th) finished in the top eight to give the Rams five of the top eight spots in the tournament.
“The last two years we’ve had the best people around,” Stoskopf said. “Not just golfers, but just great people. We’re all friends, we all hang out – outside of golf. We practice together and if we’re not having a good day, we’re like what can we do to help you play better and feel better. I think having that friend dynamic within the team is very helpful.”
The final two golfers that will represent the Moore League at the CIF tournament will be Wilson’s Charlotte White and Poly’s Kara Teter who each had different rounds on their way to one of the top four spots.
White was in second place after the first round and hovered right around there and ended up finishing in third with a 169.
“I feel like I really struggled on those early courses,” White said. “But coming to Big Rec for the last 18 and kind of realizing we’re only half way through the tournament and just trying to put my best foot forward on every hole and finish strong at my home course.”
Teter made an impressive move after sitting in 12th after shooting a 50 on day one of the tournament. But, the junior bounced back with a round-low 39 to catapult her up the standings.
She continued to keep the pace with the top group as she shot an 84 in the final round.
“I definitely struggled on the first day,” Teter said. “But I think the key in the second day was concentration. I felt I was way too hard on myself the first day, and on the second day I was concentrating more and then just swinging freely.”
In ninth place was Lakewood’s Sydney Adams who shot a 193 and had the lowest score in at least five years according to coaches.
The top four finishers will now head to Oxnard for the Northern Individual Regional on Monday.
