Flirting with Howard County golf history

On the heels of a regular season where multiple county records were broken, it seemed only fitting that the champions of this year’s Howard County championship golf tournament flirted with a little history as well.

River Hill junior Helen Yeung tied her own girls county tournament record with a 2-under-par score of 68 to win the girls title by four shots, while Centennial senior Dustin Stocksdale fell one shot shy of the boys record with a 4-under-par round of 66 to win by five on Thursday at Fairway Hills Golf Club in Columbia.

It’s the second county tournament title for Yeung, building on the crown she won as a freshman, and came on the heels of a self-described “disappointing” fourth-place finish at the District V Championship tournament less than 24 hours earlier.

“I really wanted to make a comeback from yesterday’s round and I think it started with a more aggressive mindset,” Yeung said. “I was more confident and definitely swung with more power and trust in myself.”

For Stocksdale, the championship was a breakthrough several years in the making.

Leading up to this year’s county tournament Thursday, he had finished in the top four in five postseason events without a victory — including finishing second at the District V event a day earlier.

But he left little doubt this time around. Spurred on by a string of three straight birdies on his back nine — on holes 13, 14 and 15 — Stocksdale distanced himself from the field.

“I putted really, really well today. I was hitting decent shots and then perfect putts … and sometimes that’s what it takes,” Stocksdale said. “Once I made the one on 15 and looked at the board and saw I had a cushion, I was able to relax a little.”

Behind Stocksdale, River Hill’s Mark Berg had a career day of his own to finish alone in second place among the boys. His 1-over-par round of 71 included his own hot stretch on the back nine, making three birdies in four holes to close within a shot of the lead.

“To be honest, I was just trying to have fun and stay in the moment,” Berg said. “I didn’t want to focus too much on the scoreboard and just let things play out how they may. I think today really showed me how much I’ve gotten better since last year, especially mentally.”

Ultimately Stocksdale was just not going to be denied. He made clutch par saves on the 16th and 17th holes, and then came up just short on his birdie try on the par 5 finishing hole to miss tying the all-time record by one. Wilde Lake’s Tyler Silberberg set the record as a senior in 2012 with a 5-under-par score at the Timbers at Troy.

Records aside, Stocksdale said simply finding a way to win a high school tournament has been on his bucket list.

“Every year, I would tell myself that I would get one eventually and I wasn’t really worried about it. But then after yesterday, it was like I only had two more chances … today or states,” he said. “So this feels awesome. It’s definitely a monkey off my back. It’s been something I’ve wanted since I was a freshman.”

Behind the top two, Howard’s Dev Sheth (75) was third, while the duo of Marriotts Ridge’s Aiden Kim and River Hill’s Benjamin Siriboury tied for fourth with rounds of 77.

On the girls’ side of things, Yeung found herself trailing at the onset. She made a bogey on the third hole and, heading to the sixth tee, she was 1-over and trailing Marriotts Ridge’s Lila Becker by a shot.

But a tee shot to within 10 feet for Yeung into the par 3 led to a birdie and then the floodgates opened. She went on to make birdies on the seventh and eighth holes as well, taking a lead she never lost the rest of the way.

“I had confidence walking into today. I was basically focusing on looking forward instead of what happened yesterday,” Yeung said. “But I think that when those three birdies in a row came, that’s when I knew that I was back to where I know I can be. It felt like I could go low at that point.”

Yeung ended up adding another birdie on the 10th hole to get herself to 3-under par. She made only one mistake the rest of the round, a bogey on No. 17. However, by then, she was well ahead of the field.

Marriotts Ridge’s Alana Alexander-Giles followed up her District V Championship title a day earlier with a second-place round of 72 (2-over). She played her final six holes in 2-under par to close the gap on Yeung.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with how I played. I had the one double [bogey] that was annoying, but other that it was good,” Alexander-Giles said. “Helen played great, though. After she made those three birdies in a row, I was like ‘Yeah, she’s got it today.’”

Becker, who made three birdies — including a 30-foot putt up the hill on No. 6 — to highlight her round, finished in third place with a score of 76. Rounding out the top five were Glenelg’s Megan Kirkpatrick (77) and Marriotts Ridge’s Erin Jeong (80).

Howard County’s qualifying golfers will return to action next week for the state championship tournament at the University of Maryland golf course. The opening round for 3A/4A schools Is Monday and the opening round for 1A/2A is Tuesday.

Boys Individuals

1. Dustin Stocksdale, Centennial, 66; 2. Mark Berg, River Hill, 71; 3. Dev Sheth, Howard, 75; T4. Aiden Kim, Marriotts Ridge, 77; T4. Benjamin Siriboury, River Hill, 77; 6. George Williamson, Marriotts Ridge, 78; 7. Sangmin Lee, Marriotts Ridge, 79; 8. Jonathan Moon, Marriotts Ridge, 83; 9. Andrew Christiansen, Atholton, 84; 10. Keagan Graves, River Hill, 86.

11. Neev Saraf, Marriotts Ridge, 87; 12. Zach Vernick, Marriotts Ridge, 88; T13. Justin Choi, River Hill, 89; T13. Jake Filler, Long Reach, 89; 15. Ronan Menon, Howard, 95; 16. Chris Bone, Mt. Hebron, 96.

Girls Individuals

1. Helen Yeung, River Hill, 68; 2. Alana Alexander-Giles, Marriotts Ridge, 72; 3. Lila Becker, Marriotts Ridge, 76; 4. Megan Kirkpatrick, Glenelg, 77; 5. Erin Jeong, Marriotts Ridge, 82; 6. Jane Mhonda, Wilde Lake, 86; 7. Charlene Pak, Marriotts Ridge, 87; T8. Cate Lee, Atholton, 92; T8. Sydney Lynott, River Hill, 92; T10. Amber Kostick, Glenelg, 93; T10. Chloe Koh, Oakland Mills, 93.

12. Emma Koech, Long Reach, 94; T13. Reagan Hubbard, Centennial, 96; T13. Hannah Fang, Centennial, 96; 15. Samadhi Tennakoon, Glenelg, 103; 16. Laurel Sands, Wilde Lake, 104; 17. Carolina Herrera, River Hill, 105.