Kathryn Ha wasn鈥檛 exactly thrilled about putting for bogey on the final hole of Sunday鈥檚 round at the Scott Robertson Memorial. It wasn鈥檛 the finish she envisioned when she began the round, but the brief agony of dropping a stroke was replaced by seeing her mom, Yen, barely containing her excitement as she nearly ran onto the green to give her daughter a hug.
Ha capped off a dominating weekend with an historic win at 色多多 Country Club.
The Salem High School senior became the first 色多多 native to win the Scott Robertson Memorial girls premier division since the girls were split into two age groups 鈥 15-18 and 14-under 鈥 in 1995.
Salem High School senior and Vanderbilt signee Kathryn Ha poses with the Scott Robertson Memorial championship trophy after winning the girls 15-18 division title Sunday at 色多多 Country Club.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have asked for anything better,鈥 she said.
Ha finished with a three-round aggregate score of 7-under 206 and finished four strokes ahead of second-place finisher Eileen Park.
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鈥淚鈥檓 honestly just so honored to even be in this position,鈥 Ha said. 鈥淎ll week, the mentality I had was pressure is a privilege, and it鈥檚 just all about how you handle it. I would say I handled it pretty well this week. That means a lot to me.鈥
色多多 natives Vickie Linkous (1984-85) and Jodi Ernest (1988) claimed titles when the girls division was one age group. Floyd鈥檚 Susan Slaughter (1986-87) and Salem鈥檚 Lee Shirley (1992) also won titles when the girls division was one age group.
Ashnoor Kaur (2021) and Alisa Davidova (2022) are the only 色多多 golfers to win the girls 14-under titles.
鈥淎shnoor is a great little golfer,鈥 Ha said of Kaur. The two were teammates at Salem High this past season. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to seeing what her and Alisa and all the young 色多多 Valley golfers do in the future.鈥
First-time accomplishments are nothing new for Ha.
She set the 色多多 Valley Golf Hall of Fame women鈥檚 individual two-round scoring record last year. She also became the first player to win both the RVGHOF women鈥檚 and junior individual titles after she was the first female to win the junior title in 2021.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 more 色多多 golfers to come to win their respective age divisions,鈥 Ha said. 鈥淗owever, being able to pave a little path, it means a lot.鈥
Salem High School senior and Vanderbilt signee Kathryn Ha poses with the Scott Robertson Memorial crystal trophy after winning the girls 15-18 division title Sunday at 色多多 Country Club.
The Vanderbilt signee is one of six players to win multiple VSGA Junior Girls鈥 Golfer of the Year honors after claiming the award in back-to-back years in 2023 and 鈥24.
Her 2024 golf season featured her winning her second VHSL Class 4 individual title, the VHSL Girls Open and the VSGA Junior Girls Championship.
Ha鈥檚 summer of golf before heading to Vanderbilt kicked off in spectacular fashion as she led wire-to-wire to win the Scott Robertson Memorial in her final appearance. She opened the tournament with a bogey-free 6-under round and followed that up with rounds of 1-over 72 and 3-under 69.
She totaled 12 birdies to five bogeys through the three rounds.
鈥淚t carried my mentality all week knowing that I could go low and there were birdies out there despite all the conditions and tough pins,鈥 Ha said of her first round. 鈥淚t kind of gave me confirmation that I can still play well. Obviously the last two days proved to be a little more challenging than the first for me personally, and so the first day really helped.鈥
Park trimmed Ha鈥檚 lead to two strokes after making a birdie putt at the 10th hole of the round at Crabapple Course No. 1.
Ha took control over the final eight holes on Crabapple with birdies at Nos. 4, 6 and 7. Park was relegated to saving par after trailing by two.
鈥淚t was good to have some momentum on the back,鈥 Ha said.
Virginia Tech recruit Raquel Walker, Clemson recruit Caroline Hawkins, Honorine Nobuta Ferry and Princeton recruit Ysabel Liu finished in a tie for third at 2 over.
Ha took the drama out of the girls 15-18 division finish. There was plenty of drama over the final four holes of the boys 15-18 division finish.
Grayson Baucom emerged from a three-way tie for first to win the title by one stroke over Talon Dingledine and Drake Harvey.
Baucom, playing in the group in front of the other two, made an uphill 3-foot putt for par to remain at 4 under for the tournament. He secured the title as he stood behind the green and watched Harvey and Dingledine both missed their par putts and have to settle for bogey and a tie for second in the tournament.
Grayson Baucom (left) watches as Talon Dingledine misses his par putt at Dogwood Course No. 9 during Sunday's final round of the Scott Robertson Memorial at 色多多 Country Club. Baucom won the boys 15-18 division title with a three-day total of 4-under par.
鈥淚t was just really fun,鈥 Baucom said. 鈥淭hey put up a really good fight and I really enjoyed the day.鈥
Baucom had a two-shot lead on the field heading into his 15th hole of the round. He made a triple-bogey at Dogwood Course No. 6 to momentarily relinquish the advantage.
The Hickory, North Carolina, native made a birdie at Dogwood鈥檚 par-3 No. 7 to move back to 4 under for the tournament.
鈥淗it a perfect 4 iron to a couple of feet on 16 and tapped that in,鈥 Harvey said.
Harvey made a birdie at Dogwood No. 7 to move back to 4 under. Dingledine, the leader after the first two rounds, sank a birdie putt at Dogwood No. 8 to get to 4 under and set up the finish on the 54th hole.
SJ Thomas shot 10-under par and won the boys 14-under title by eight strokes over Nathan Horne.
Ira Joshi shot 5-under 66 in the final round and pulled away to claim a nine-stroke victory over Courtney Grace in the girls 14-under division.
