By Francisco Avila
Whitney Young has had a stronghold on Chicago Public League girls golf. The Dolphins came into Sunday’s city championship at Indian Boundary Golf Course looking for their fourth consecutive city championship. After being upperclassman-heavy the last couple years tho, thijs year’s squad looked a little different.
Freshman Kennedy White was one of those new golfers for Whitney Young and she has a putter cover that is Monopoly themed. The putter cover features smack talk in the context of golf such as “Collect $ from every golf player, Go.” A bold move for a freshman but it worked as she walked away with medalist honors after shooting an invite-best 38 en route to leading her team to victory.
Young won the meet with a final team score of 178, holding off Lane, which shot a collective 223 and Taft, which finished third after a score of 231. All five Dolphin golfers shot a 49 or better.
“Well, they won every match they played this year, and they are a great team that supports each other, and we celebrate that,” Young head coach Deborah Johnson said. “We go out to dinner sometimes, and sometimes we do that. But the rounds were good, good today.
“The weather is a part of golf. It’s outside. Golf is the only sport where you hit a stationary ball, With this big, crazy movement. So you do what you do. It’s a tough sport. The only thing it did was wet the greens, so the greens were a little tougher. But no, I don’t think it did. Everyone had the same rain,” said Johnson on how the weather affected her team’s performance throughout the championship.
Despite White’s success, she entered the competition with a bit of nerves..
“Yeah, I was actually, I was very, very nervous coming in,” she said. “I warmed up this morning at home in the simulator and my shots were not going well, not doing what I wanted to do. But then he (White’s dad) kind of just reminded me to just play my game and stick with it.
“I came in here with confidence, but also at the same time just wanting to play good golf and being smart.”
Johnson also applauded White’s performances throughout the championship.
“Kennedy just knows the game. And her dad is a golf teacher, so she’s been playing since she was five,” she said.
“They have a simulator in their garage, and she’s just playing it. Her dad’s taught her everything and he’s a great player too. He’s such a helpful dad because he finds lost balls. All my parents are the best. That’s helpful for everyone.”
Apart from White, Northside junior Tiffany Kim was also very successful taking second with a score of 43. Despite a foot injury and difficult weather, Kim performed an excellent game and as team captain of her side conveyed resilience and success despite difficult odds.
“I wanted to show a lot of my team members who are freshmen or players who’ve never really played golf before that if I can do it with a broken foot, so can they.”
The girls participated in the regional round of the state playoffs Wednesday and saw four members of Young’s squad move on to the sectional round, as well as Amundsen’s Araceli Condie-Espinosa.
Photos by Andrew Rosenthal/OSA
