Kaui leads Gators to state golf championship by 90 strokes

RENO -- After shooting a tournament-record 64 Monday, Green Valley's Alex Kaui bogeyed her first hole at the Class 4A girls state golf tournament Tuesday.

It was a frustrating, up-and-down day, but Kaui was able to keep it together.

Kaui birdied the 18th hole to shoot par 72 Tuesday to finish the tournament at 8-under, winning the individual title and helping the Gators to the team title at Hidden Valley Country Club.

"I started off with a bogey by three-putting, so that wasn't really fun," Kaui said. "I was really struggling today. But it worked out."

Green Valley (608) won the team title by 90 strokes over second-place Faith Lutheran. Arbor View finished fourth while Coronado finished sixth out of six teams.

Green Valley's Jenny Hahn, who won state last year, finished second overall, six strokes back of Kaui with back-to-back 71s.

Annie Freman of Faith Lutheran had the best round Tuesday with a 69, and finished third at 146. Coronado's Melanie Chambers tied for fourth with a 154 after shooting a 74 Tuesday.

It was still a special two days for Kaui, who broke the one- and two-day state scoring records. Her two-day total of 136 was two strokes better than the previous record set by In-Ah Park of Bishop Gorman in 2006.

Kaui also concluded the high school season shooting every round even par or better.

"She wanted to keep that streak alive and hit that birdie on 18 to wind up even," Green Valley coach Greg Murphy said.

Kaui's round consisted of five bogeys and five birdies. She was 3-over after four holes and had three three-putts.

"In my head I thought, 'Oh my God, you're going completely backwards from yesterday,' " Kaui said. "Then on the seventh hole I got a birdie and another on the eighth hole."

On the 18th hole, Kaui was 1-over and very much aware of her streak of even-or-better rounds was in jeopardy.

The 434-yard, par-5 set up nicely for her. Before she hit her tee shot, she told Murphy she was going for the green in two.

After her drive to the left side of the fairway, Kaui hit a fairway metal to about 20 feet from the pin. She two-putted for birdie to keep the streak intact.

"I didn't care if I was hitting over water, I was going for that green in two," she said.

Freman also birdied 18 to finish with a career best 3-under-par.

"I kept calm, that's the biggest thing I needed to work on," the sophomore said. "I succeeded. I struck the ball perfect. I left a lot of putts out there, but still, 3-under is pretty good for me."

■ CLASS 3A -- Boulder City girls golfer Randi Lewis shot 5-over 77 on Tuesday at Ruby View Golf Course in Elko to finish with a two-day total of 155 and capture the individual Class 3A state championship while leading the Eagles to the team title.

Lewis, a sophomore, finished eight strokes ahead of South Tahoe's Morgan Murphy to help Boulder City claim its second team crown in three years.

"Randi was real confident coming into the tournament," Eagles coach Regina Quintero said. "She just didn't try to do too many things like try to out-drive people; she stayed within her game. She seemed real comfortable and played like it was just another round."

Lewis was the only player in the tournament to fire a round in the 70s, let alone two.

The Eagles claimed the team championship with a 672 total, followed by Elko at 716.

Boulder City's Indiana Mead carded 89 to finish fifth with a 170 total.