CARMEL — New Palestine’s Annaliese Fox had one goal heading into the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s girls golf state meet.
She reached it during the opening round at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel on Friday before a few bad holes set her back.
Positioned in the top 10 out of 100 competitors, Fox finished her first 18 holes 8-over par with an 80, which tied her for 20th overall.
“I want to at least place at the top 10. At the state preview (during the regular season) I shot a 74, so that’s my goal, to shoot 74 again,” Fox said after advancing out of regional last week. “I love Prairie View. With my distance and everything, it really matches up.”
Her connection with the course showed early on — minus a tough 10th hole to start the day.
Fox shanked her second shot, New Palestine head coach Gregg Greene explained, and she had to take an unplayable followed by a three putt for a triple-bogey.
“She was a little frustrated with herself right out of the gate,” Greene said.
Fox settled down quickly, collecting two pars and a birdie on the next three holes. On the day, Fox had four birdies and seven pars. She was 3-over after completing the back nine.
After 12 holes, she was just 1-over with a par on the first hole and back-to-back birdies on two and three.
“Honestly, when she got on the front side where she knew she could hit her driver that’s where you saw her scoring. It was just seven and eight. Otherwise, she just kills that side of the course,” Greene said.
After two straight bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes, Fox hit a speed bump on the next two while sitting at 3-over.
“She smokes the drive on the next hole, but she just didn’t commit to the swing, and on the next swing she got herself into some trouble,” Greene said. “From there, if it could go wrong, it did, and she took at eight.”
Her eight on the seventh hole led to a double-bogey on eight before she posted a par on nine to come in 5-over on the front nine.
She tees off for Day 2 at 8:30 a.m. deadlocked with four other golfers on the leaderboard. Chesterton’s Elyse Stasil was tied for first with Zionsville’s Abby Thielbar at 2-under.
“She had 15 great holes of golf and only three she’d like to have back,” Greene said. “That’s a really good ratio.”
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Round 1
Hole;1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;Front
Rd 1;4;3;4;3;5;4;8;6;4;41
To Par;+3;+2;+1;+1;+2;+3;+6;+8;+8;+5
Hole;10;11;12;13;14;15;16;17;18;Back
Rd 1;7;4;2;5;5;2;5;4;5;39
To Par;+3;+3;+2;+2;+3;+2;+3;+3;+3;+3
[sc:pullout-text-end]
