COON RAPIDS -- The Minnesota State High School League's perpetual failure to exempt the defending champion into the next year's state tournament has never been a problem before. Defending champions have always bailed the league out by qualifying again -- until now.
Two years ago, Bella McCauley won the girls Class AAA crown by 10 shots with a record-tying 36-hole score of 135. There was no tournament last year, a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. So that made McCauey the defending champion this spring. But then the Simley junior -- she's home-schooled but lives in the Simley District -- qualified for the U.S. Women's Open. It was a spectacular accomplishment. The only Minnesota high school girl to qualify for the U.S. Open previously was Hilary Homeyer Lunke, who made it in 1997, between her junior and senior years at Edina. She would go on to win the Open six years later.
But this year's Women's Open was played a month early -- the same week as the sectional tournament for the Simley team.
As a result, the best player in the state right now isn't in the state tournament. (McCauley had one bad five-hole stretch in the Open at the iconic -- and extremely difficult -- Olympic Club in San Francisco, and shot 80 in the first round. But she came back with a sensational 70 in the second, and narrowly missed the cut, which fell at 148. The 2020 champion, A Lim Kim, missed by one with a 79-70-149, and former champ Paula Creamer missed by three with a 75-76--151. Nelly Korda, the No. 4 player in the world rankings, missed by five with a 78-75--153, and another former champ, Michelle Wie West, missed by six with a 74-80-154.)
A lot of people who are interested in Minnesota golf think that's a travesty that McCauley isn't at Bunker Hills GC this week for the AAA (large-school) part of the state tournament. But her absence presents an opportunity for some really talented players who are there.
Among them is McCauley's younger sister, Reese, a freshman. She shot a 2-under-par 70 on Tuesday, which has her tied for the lead with Olivia Salonek, a sophomore at Roseville.
East Ridge senior Kyra Venne is one behind at 71. Blaine's Kathryn VanArragon, who won the AAA title three years ago, when she was a seventh-grader, is another shot back, at 72, tied for fourth, along with a pair of seniors, Anna Krieger of Brainerd and Camille Kuznik of Orono.
Salonek started slowly on Tuesday, with a bogey at the 312-yard, par-4 first hole (No. 1 East). She made her first birdie until the par-5 sixth hole (475 yards), where she was just short in two and chipped to 2 feet, and she followed it with another birdie right away, at the 170-yard, par-3 seventh, where she made a 50-foot putt. The eighth and ninth holes on the East Nine at Bunker Hills are both short par 4's, 320 and 314 yards. Salonek bogeyed the eighth and birdied the ninth to make the turn in 35 (1 under).
She birdied both of the par 5's on the back (West) nine. At the 430-yard 11th, she needed only to make a 3-footer. At the 14th (also 440 yards), she yanked her second shot well left of the green, hit a wedge to 20 feet and made the putt. She made another 20-footer for birdie at the 15th (368 yards), and then hit her second shot to within 10 feet at the 16th for her third birdie in a row -- and seventh of the day, which got her to 5 under par.
Salonek left her tee shot in the front bunker at the par-3 17th (165 yards). She blasted to 18 feet, missed her first putt and had only 15 inches for her bogey, but she missed that one, too. After hitting a flip wedge to 25 feet at the 294-yard, par-4 18th, she had a chance to better her previous best score, a 69, but got a little too aggressive with the birdie putt and missed a 6-footer coming back.
"I wasn't thinking about that (potentially shooting her lowest score)," she said afterward. "I didn't really have any expectations coming into the tournament, or during the round. All I was thinking about was playing each hole as well as I could. I wasn't thinking about my score."
Meanwhile, McCauley, playing with Salonek and VanArragon, was kept her scorecard clean for most of the round, but she made only one birdie on the front nine, at the 405-yard, par-5 fourth, where she hit a 4-hybrid just short of the green, chipped to 10 feet and made the putt. That 4-hybrid was her friend on Tuesday. She hit it just short at the par-5 11th, got it up and down for a birdie, and hit the 4-hybrid just over the green at the par-5 14th, and nearly chipped it in for an eagle.
"It came within an inch," she said wistfully.
McCauley's only bogey came at the 16th, where she three-putted for 25 feet. But she made up for that by making a 25-footer for birdie at the par-3 17th.
In the team competition, Maple Grove, with two players in the top 10 individually -- senior Lauren Contreras and sophomore Amelia Morton are tied for eighth with 74's -- leads Alexandria 317 to 319. Alexandria junior Cora Larson and sophomore Hannah Boraas are right behind them, two of the four players tied for 10th at 75. Twelve-time team champion Edina is tied for third with Eden Prairie, but they have a lot of ground to make up, because they're 16 behind going into the final round at 333.
Minnesota State High School Tournament
Class AAA
Girls
At Bunker Hills Golf Course
Par 72, 5,517 yards
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First-round results
T1. Reese McCauley, Simley 35-35--70
T1. Olivia Salonek, Roseville 35-35--70
3. Kyra Venne, East Ridge 37-34--71
T4. Kathryn VanArragon 36-36--72
T4. Anna Krieger, Brainerd 34-38--72
T4. Camille Kuznik, Orono 36-36--72
7. Ally Chan, Minnetonka 38-35--73
T8. Lauren Contreras, Maple Grove 37-37--74
T8. Amelia Morton, Maple Grove 38-36--74
Teams
1. Maple Grove 317
2. Alexandria 319
T3. Eden Prairie 333
T3. Edina 333
5. Stillwater 336
6. Eastview 346
T7. Lakeville North 351
T7. St. Michael-Albertville 351
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