Henson’s hole-out helps Iowa

Among the many six Iowa qualifiers for the occasion was Marshalltown Excessive Faculty graduate and future Drake College ladies’s golfer Amber Henson.

Henson was paired with fellow Drake signee Erika Holmberg of Bettendorf within the morning session. They went up in opposition to the Kansas pairing of Maya McVey and Libby Inexperienced. The Kansas duo was forward of a lot of the match and had a 3-up lead with 4 holes to play. Successful the fifteenth and sixteenth holes to get again inside 1-down, Henson and Holmberg headed to the 18th gap needing to win with a view to seize half some extent for Iowa.

Henson mentioned the 2 hit their tee photographs into an identical space, and rapidly realized a particular shot was wanted.

“The opposite lady hit it to 5 toes, and we mentioned, ‘One thing particular must occur,’” Henson mentioned. “It’s my flip and I really made it, and it labored out nice however clearly that isn’t one thing that usually occurs. It was a superb time to, although.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING – Marshalltown’s Amber Henson tees off on the par-3 twelfth gap at Elmwood Nation Membership throughout Thursday’s play within the 54th Junior Women’ 4-State Championship.

The opening-out for eagle gave Iowa its solely half-point of the morning session and made Henson’s match the one tie of the morning session. Nebraska gained three morning matches and Missouri gained two.

The afternoon was an alternate shot foursome format, with Henson lined up alongside Dubuque Wahlert junior Katelyn Vaassen. Henson and Vaassen have been matched up in opposition to the Nebraska pair of Karsen Morrison and Emily Krzyzanowski and the match began on gap 16. Successful the primary gap of the match with a par was not an indication of issues to come back, although, for Henson and Vaassen — Nebraska gained the subsequent 5 holes to go 4-up by six. After steadying the ship with two straight halves, Henson and Vaassen gained two straight holes on the flip to get again to 2-down. A bogey on the par-four eighth and a birdie from the Nebraska duo on 10 pushed the lead again to 4-up with 5 holes to play. Finally attending to dormie at 4-up with 4 holes to play, Henson and Vaassen had their backs in opposition to the wall.

Henson mentioned it was a bit tougher to play alternate shot than the four-ball format, and defined what was completely different from the same old stroke-play format.

“I truthfully suppose it’s a extra enjoyable format [than stroke play] as a result of you might have a teammate and also you’re not alone,” Henson mentioned. “There may be much more strain on placing as a result of you need to make your putts. You will get it again with stroke play however that’s not the way it works with match play.

“I truthfully suppose that’s the toughest format within the match, the alternate shot. That was fairly powerful, however it was enjoyable.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING – Marshalltown Excessive Faculty graduate Amber Henson clenches her fist as her par putt slides previous the cup on No. 11 through the 54th Junior Women’ 4-State Championship on Thursday at Elmwood Nation Membership in Marshalltown. Henson and teammate Katelyn Vaassen of Dubuque Wahlert misplaced their foursome match to Nebraska’s Karsen Morrison and Emily Krzyzanowski, 3 and 1.

Wins on 12 and 13 for the Iowa duo extended the match, however a birdie on 14 was good for Morrison and Krzyzanowski to take a 3 & 1 victory.

Via 12 matches, Nebraska leads the best way with 5 1/2 factors — adopted carefully by Missouri with 4 1/2. Kansas sits third with 1 1/2 factors and Iowa solely has the 1/2 level earned by Henson and Holmberg within the morning session.

Up subsequent for Henson is a singles match in opposition to Ella Overstreet of Missouri. Overstreet has a 1-1-0 report by two matches. Henson tees off at 8:10 a.m. Friday and spoke of her pleasure for the possibility to go one-on-one with an opponent.

“I’m actually excited for the singles matches,” Henson mentioned. “I do know the course very properly in comparison with the opposite ladies, they’ve solely performed it a few times.”