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TAYLORSVILLE — It was clear after Wednesday who the best teams were in the 3A girls state golf tournament, and it took less time Thursday to find out who would take home the trophy.
But it took until the final groupings, and indeed, the final putt on the final hole, to know which player would be the last one standing — and it came in a moment she and her school will never forget.
Thanks to a stunning turn of events on the closing holes, it was Juan Diego senior Grayson Gagnon who posted a stunning rally to steal the first-ever 3A girls golf individual championship for any Soaring Eagle athlete Thursday at Meadow Brook Golf Club with a final score of 15-over par.
The comeback started when Richfield's Shelby Gardner's second shot from the right rough on the 16th hole was shanked into the tall grass, compounded with a three-putt on the green, leading to a triple bogey, leaving Gagnon in front for the first time since the fourth hole.
Gardner also had a chance to force a playoff with Gagnon, but she missed her six-foot putt for par on the 18th hole; her second three-putt in the final three holes led to the bogey that opened the door for Gagnon to win.
"I went through every emotion you can think of on the last four holes," Soaring Eagle coach Jason Andersen said. "Proud would be the only way to describe how I feel right now."
The eighth-year head coach has every right to be proud; Gagnon fell behind with a double bogey of her own on the fourth hole after she found the right rough off the tee, pinballed her second shot off a tree and into the seventh fairway, somehow managing to chip within six feet for a two-putt just to stop the bleeding.
She also had one of the largest galleries of the day. Gagnon said many of her friends from school, along with her parents, were trailing her group up until the last putt.
"I've had a lot of practice with pressure," Gagnon said. "I just tried to keep my head up and not think about the end goal; just smile, focus on the next shot, and go one by one."
While Gardner was struggling on the 16th, Gagnon calmly made par; and after a bogey on the par-3 17th, came to the 18th with Andersen knowing a par on the closing hole would win the gold medal.
"I knew Grayson had that last stretch in her," Andersen said. "I've seen it time and again. Those last four holes were incredible."
It took three putts, but soon an emotional Andersen, Gagnon's equally emotional father, and the team were mobbing her in joy, as Gagnon said she took a few seconds to process what was happening before realizing she was a champion.
Those last four holes were also a cruel finish for Gardner, who was seemingly in control the entire day after taking the outright lead on the sixth hole. The junior was up by as many as three shots before everything came unglued.
The Wildcats still claimed their fifth team championship in the last six tournaments (there was no 2020 championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and their seventh overall, all since 2012, over the Soaring Eagle.
But the day belonged to Gagnon, a member of the Juan Diego golf team since eighth grade, whose championship marked the culmination of Andersen's eight-year tenure with the Soaring Eagle golf program.
"Every year, we've made strides, but to now show the girls that they be the next one to win a title is huge," Andersen said. "We don't give these kids the respect they deserve sometimes; I couldn't be more proud of what they've accomplished."
