A pair of steady rounds helped Fayetteville-Manlius girls golfer Madison Kingsley to a top-20 finish in last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament at Bethpage State Park on Long Island.
In her opening round on Saturday, Kingsley shot an eight-over-par 80, only making one birdie, on hole no. 16, but also not making worse than a bogey throughout her round.
Then, in Sunday’s final round, Kingsley opened on the 4th hole with a double bogey, and finished on the the 3rd hole with a triple bogey. In between, though, she was quite steady, getting birdies on 12 and 14 and finishing with a 79, moving her into a tie for 16th place with a total of 159.
Kingsley’s F-M teammate, Maggie Bonomo, wasn’t far behind. In the first round, Bonomo had an 83, with one birdie (on 8), and then matched that 83 a day later, recording 10 pars as her two-day aggregate of 166 left her alone in 29th place.
Jamesville-DeWitt golfer Lena Jones, making her state tournament debut, shot a 98 in the first round, adding a 112 on day two for a total of 210.
They played on Bethpage’s Yellow course, a cousin to the famed Black Course that has hosted a pair of U.S. Opens. The big question was whether Auburn’s Lindsay May, a two-time state individual champion, could pull off a three-peat – and she did.
May had an opening-round 70 with four birdies, leaving her one shot behind Lauren Peter (Section I) going into the final round. But while Peter posted 75, May put together another 70 that included five birdies, including a clincher on 18 that gave her a four-under-par 140, which beat Peter and her Section I teammate, Alice Hodge, by four shots.
Behind May, Kingsley and Bonomo had the next-best totals on the Section III side. Liverpool’s Natalya Avotins (Liverpool) was 43rd with a 177, followed by Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Olivia Evans (180), Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nessa McKie (188), Westhill’s Shannon Bunce (214) and Utica Proctor’s Bella Facciolo (235).
In the boys state golf tournament held Sunday and Monday at Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones course, F-M’s Kyle Gilroy was the lone local representative.
Shooting rounds of 90 in Sunday’s rain and improving to an 85 in Monday’s windy conditions, Gilroy tied for 84th place with a 175. West Genesee’s Sean Stanistreet and New Hartford’s Alec Bard did best among Section III golfers, tying for 14th place at 153, eight shots behind the winner, Bronxville’s Connor Daly.