The kid from U-fraida is making a name for herself

The more I’m around Kenedee Peters the more I am impressed.

She’ll be a senior next year at Ephrata High School, then it’s off to Washington State University where she’s already given a verbal commitment to play Pac-12 golf. From what I can see, the sky’s the limit for Peters, who’s already played on the international stage at the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego.

She added another 2A state medalist championship to her resume (2) this past spring, going undefeated through the regular and postseason. The season included setting the women’s course record at Gamble Sands Golf Club in Brewster with a spectacular 66. She also owns the women’s course record at Lakeview Golf & Country Club in Soap Lake with a round of 69.

We got to laughing how the tournament announcer at the World Championships announced her as Kenedee Peters from “U-fraida, Washington.”

“But once I figured out it was just golf — nobodies from nowhere, we’re all the same. It’s you versus the course, it was a lot of fun,” she said about the World Games.

Nobodies from nowhere, I like that.

The kid from nowhere finished 20th in the 56-golfer field at the U.S. Women's Open Sectional Qualifier at the OGA Golf Course, Woodburn, Ore., last week with a 36-hole total of 150. She didn’t qualify for the Women’s U.S. Open, but what makes her effort so impressive is that the field featured eight professionals and 48 amateurs, including the NCAA National Champion, Monica Vaughn (72-73-145) from Arizona State University.

Peters, who was just five strokes behind the defending national champion, finished 36 places higher than some of the best college golfers in the country. LPGA Tour player Becky Morgan of Wales (66-70) won the thing with 8-under-par 136. Sixteen-year-old Brooke Seay (69-70) from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., was the second qualifier at 139.

The kid from U-fraida is on track for great things and there’s no doubt she’ll cross paths again with Seay and Bibilani Liu (Boston College recruit for 2017-18) during her NCAA career.

It’s hard to fathom she still has another year of high school golf, but she reminds me a lot of Chris Williams from Moscow, Idaho. Williams was a four-time Idaho 4A state champion from Moscow who went on to play at the University of Washington. Chris used to shoot 68 or 69 on a regular basis in high school, which made writing about him so fun. He ended up third at the World Championships the summer before his senior year.

Imagine asking on the first tee at the first tournament of the year, “How’d your summer go?”

“Oh, I was third in the world in San Diego.” Yeah, not too intimidating at all.

Chris went on to win his U.S. Open sectional qualifier to earn a berth in the 111th U.S. Open Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., where he missed the cut. He’s on the McKenzie Tour (Canada) these days, but his amateur resume includes a tie for sixth in the medalist portion of the U.S. Amateur Public Links in Bandon, Ore.; playing on the United States team that beat Europe 13-11 in the Palmer Cup; won the Sahalee Players Championship and the Pacific Coast Amateur title.

Golfers come from nowhere and as long as there are “nobodies from nowhere,” I expect the kid from U-fraida to do great things.

In the meantime, just grip it and rip it, young lady.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com.