Caylin Wong wasn’t pleased with her performance at the Nassau girls golf individual championship.
But after a strong showing in the Long Island championships, the Great Neck District junior carried that momentum into the state championships where she put together a top-10 finish at Wild Wood Country Club in Rush.
Wong shot a 5-over-par 77 on Monday to place ninth with a two-day score of 152 (8-over). She made three birdies on Sunday and shot a 75.
Nina Choe (Ursuline) shot a 6-under 138 to claim the title.
“I put in a lot of work, so it’s nice to see that all the progress I’ve made is actually showing up in my results,” said Wong, who tied for 14th at last year’s state championship. “I’m really happy with my scores from this past weekend.”
“She has ice in her veins,” coach Matt Corrigan said. “If you look at her on the course, you don’t know if she’s winning by five or if she’s out of contention and about to miss the cut. She’s just even keeled the whole time.”
Jericho’s Renna Chang (154) placed 11th, Ella Girard (155) of Ward Melville tied for 12th and Palwasha Ali (157) of Sewanhaka finished 15th, as each golfer earned All-State honors.
Lara Cohen (Roslyn) shot a 163 and Madison Chen (Manhasset) shot a 165 to help Nassau place third in the sectional competition.
“It’s such a close, tight-knit group,” Corrigan said. “Even though they compete against each other the entire season, they all know each other on the outside and they all pull for each other.”
Wong and her teammates Lia Huang, Yingru Wang and Tiffany Liu led Great Neck District to a second-place finish in the team event for a second straight year.
“I’m really proud of my team,” Wong said. “This is a really big accomplishment, especially because [Liu] is graduating this year, so it’s nice to do it with her one last time.”
