Parks edges Prep’s Brophy in playoff

There were so many times that Sadena Parks or Annie Brophy could have packed up their clubs and given in Wednesday at the State 4A golf tournament at Hangman Valley.

Parks, the youngster from Bethel, could have accepted defeat when she trailed Brophy by five strokes with six holes to play.

Then Brophy, the veteran from Gonzaga Prep, could have easily done the same after Parks caught her with a birdie on 18.

Someone had to win, though, and after two gripping playoff holes featuring clutch putts by each golfer, Brophy finally blinked, missing her par attempt on the 21st hole and sealing the win for Parks.

“That’s what it seemed like, like it was going to go on forever,” said Parks of her first career playoff. “It was scary. My hands were shaking going up to the ball.”

You couldn’t tell late in the round or in the playoff.

On the first playoff hole, the 151-yard 17th, Parks hit a 10-foot downhill putt for par, and Brophy sank a 7-footer to send it to 18.

Brophy took the upper hand early on that hole, a 307-yard par-4, when she hammered her drive over the creek and on the right-center of the fairway.

Parks hooked hers – a problem she had all day – and had to hit off a hill in the short rough.

From there, Parks dropped it right of the pin about 15 feet away, and Brophy’s approach was 12 feet away.

Parks drained her birdie putt, admitting later she relaxed knowing Brophy had a 12-footer with quite a bit of break to it.

It didn’t matter, as Brophy nailed it to send it back to 17, where Brophy pulled a 4-foot putt after Parks made par.

“The stress wasn’t that bad – I was ready for it,” said Brophy, who caps a six-year run of Brophys in the top four with their highest finish. “It’s not that big a deal, but that putt on 17, it’s the exact same one I missed to bogey it (in regulation). I pulled it twice, the exact same putt.”

In regulation, Brophy didn’t give it away as much as Parks earned it, birdieing 16, 18 and sinking a 40-foot putt on 14 for a run of three birdies in five holes.

“My drives were going left all day and my approach shots were just OK,” said Parks, a sophomore, who will run the 100-meter dash and compete on the 400 relay team at the state track tournament Friday and Saturday. “But my putts were awesome today. I don’t know what happened.”

Eastmont won the girls team title, Mead finished third and Lewis and Clark took fourth.

In the boys tournament, Eastmont’s Nick Ellis followed his first-day 67 with a 1-under-par 71 to win at The Creek at Qualchan.

Ellis held off Bellarmine Prep’s Klye Stanley, who shot a 68, one behind Ellis for a second straight second-place finish. Bellarmine won the team title, with Eastmont second and Skyline third.