Waldrop earns low medalist honors at state tournament
Caroline Waldrop had no idea how critical the final putt of her high school career would be.
As she stood over a 12-foot putt on the 18th green, finishing up the Class 7A state girls golf tournament on May 15 at The Shoals Golf Club, the lefty assumed the putt meant little to nothing in terms of the individual tournament championship.
With a true read and smooth stroke, she sank the putt and turned to hear cheers from the gallery. Those cheers were more enthusiastic than she anticipated.
“That putt, I was like, ‘Well, I guess this doesn’t mean anything. I guess I just lost,’” Waldrop recalled thinking.
Little did she know, that putt clinched the low medalist honor for Waldrop and capped off a final round of 69 and a two-day total of 143. She edged out Hoover’s Carson McKie and Auburn’s Morgan Jones by one stroke.
“It’s so cool,” Waldrop said.
Waldrop picked up three birdies on the front nine and held serve the rest of the way. She said it was the first bogey-free round in her career.
“She played really well today and really made a huge comeback to pull this thing out,” said Spain Park coach Kelly Holland. “It’s clutch. I’m so proud of her. It’s hard to win the state championship, but it’s really hard to win that individual championship.”
The Spain Park girls were unable to defend their state title from last year, but Waldrop captured the program’s second low medalist honor. Hannah Collier won the last one in 2009.
“What a great run and career she’s had,” Holland said. “Six times she’s been to the state tournament. I’d say she deserves this.”
The Lady Jags came home third with a two-day total of 469, finishing behind winner Auburn (445) and runner-up Hoover (446). Spain Park’s first-day score of 240 left them 17 strokes off the pace and virtually out of the running. But Holland was impressed by her team’s resilience.
“We didn’t play well yesterday,” she said, “so we were pretty much out of the hunt. We weren’t in contention, so our goal today was just to improve our position and play better. We went from a 240 to a 229 and that’s significant.”
At the state tournament, all four players improved after the first day. Waldrop dropped from 74 to 69, Marilyn Steed shot a 78 after firing 80 on the first day, Taylor Trible carded rounds of 89 and 82, and Caroline McCabe shot 86 and 85.
Spain Park finished seven strokes behind Hoover in the section tournament, as both advanced to sub-state. At the sub-state tournament, Steed fired a personal-best round of 65 to lead the Lady Jags, as they tied Hoover atop the leaderboard.
Waldrop, a Western Kentucky signee, was thrust into a leadership role this season after the graduations of Jordan Susce and Mary Kate Horton in 2017. With tampered expectations coming into the spring, the Lady Jags were still able to put together an impressive postseason run.
“We didn’t even think we were going to sub-state,” Waldrop said. “Marilyn helped us out at sub-state and all the sudden we’re here. It’s crazy. It means a lot, because I was here six years ago and nowI’m here again.”