Kenedee Peters pulls away from field to capture second state championship
SPOKANE — While Othello freshman Patrick Azevedo was busy winning the boys 2A state golf championships medalist honors in a back nine shootout over at The Creek at Qualchan. Ephrata junior Kenedee Peters enjoyed a leisurely stroll to her second 2A girls medalist state championship at Indian Canyon Golf Course Wednesday afternoon.
Peters went into the round trailing Shelby Baum of East Valley by a stroke. By the end of the day, she erased that stroke and led the Red Devils senior by 12. Baum’s sister Morgan crept into the picture with a second-day 78 to finish second overall.
But it was Peters’ championship and no one was going to take it away. The Tiger junior, who’s headed to the Washington State University on a golf scholarship, ran away to a nine-stroke finish, capping Tuesday’s 74 with an even-par 72 on the second day to win with a score of 146. Morgan Baum (77-78) and Kallie Sakamoto (79-76) finished in a tie for distant second at 155.
“This means a lot. It shows a lot of the grit and determination that I’ve had to get back to this point,” Peters said. “I won’t let someone roll over me. It’s super important to stay with my game. Right off the bat, Shelby started today with birdie, so I was two (strokes) down going into No. 2.
“She played really solid through the first six holes. On No. 7, that short little par-4, I parred and she tripled and I went from being two down to one up and right there is where everything changed.”
More than one golfer playing against Peters has blinked first, and the Ephrata junior took it to another level and won running away.
But the shot that saved the championship came the day before. Peters opened the tournament by going down three strokes in the first two holes and eventually trailed Shelby Baum by seven going into the ninth hole. Peters struggled with her driver all tournament and eventually just left it in the bag.
But she hit one more errant tee shot on the 280-yard ninth hole at Indian Canyon, going off into the trees. While Baum and Grace Fraizer of Clarkston stood in the fairway with wedge shots into the green, Peters had work to do to not get into such a deficit she couldn’t dig her way out of.
Peters played the shot out of the trees and saved par to begin the turnaround midway through the first day.
“As I look back on everything, that was the shot,” Peters said. “I actually had a pretty decent lie and a little window to get my shot through. I hit a 52-degree (wedge). I knew I didn’t have to worry about not clearing the tree, so I just took a normal swing and hit it. My gap wedge normally goes 110. I was at the 100-marker, but because of the lie and where I was, I went with one more club and it paid off.”
Peters shot settled on the green in regulation and she two putted to make par. She made the turn seven strokes back, but played back into contention on the back nine on Tuesday. Then she put the hammer down on the second day.
It was a far cry from the drama that unfolded the year before when she and Morgan Baum went shot-for-shot at Columbia Pointe and she ended up losing by a stroke. She is rapidly creating a legacy for herself with two state championships in three years. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction because of what could have happened and how she played through adversity, she said.
“I think at this point, a win’s a win for me,” Peters said with a laugh. “I’m not too picky.”
East Valley won its second consecutive team championship (113.5) and Liberty from Issaquah was second (93.5).