Silver Bear Claw

ANKENY — When Newton junior golfer Rylee Heryford hears someone in the crowd say “Bear,” there’s a good chance it’s coming from either her mother or father.

Because of her love and appreciation for the carton “Little Bear,” Heryford’s parents nicknamed her “Bear” at an early age, and she battled like a bear on Wednesday, scratching and clawing her way up the Class 4A leaderboard at the Iowa High School Girls State Golf Championships at Otter Creek Golf Course.

Heryford started the second day of the 36-hole tournament in fifth but after firing another school-record, the Cardinal junior climbed all the way to second and held on to her position a few hours later after all the scores came in.

And she heard plenty of “bear” chants from Dad, too, during her record-setting back-nine performance.

“It felt really good today,” Heryford said. “I will be OK with whatever happens after that round today.”

Heryford began the final round with two bogeys in the first three holes but put on a show on the back nine, draining five birdies and shooting a school-record 68. Her back nine also was a personal-best 30. The runner-up finish also is the best school history.

“She was locked in today and put the gas pedal down,” Newton girls golf coach Ashley Kahler said. “That’s Rylee. That’s what she’s capable of doing. It’s fun golf. It’s amazing golf to watch.

“She put the heat on the rest of the course. That’s all we can ask for today. She came in fifth at plus two. What can we do? It was all up to her. That was the best she could have done and she didn’t leave anything out there. She left it all on the course.”

Heryford’s 1-under-par 141 would have won the state title in Class 1A, 2A and 3A. But in a salty 4A, it was good enough for runner-up, which was one position better than the third Heryford claimed as a freshman.

Bettendorf’s Shannyn Vogler, who Heryford defeated by two shots at regionals, won the 4A title with an impressive two-day score of 137. She went 69-68 on her two rounds and was four shots clear of anyone else on the course.

Vogler had six birdies on Day 2 and had a back-nine score of 32.

Fourteen golfers shot better than 80 on Tuesday. Heryford shot 36 on the front nine and 37 on the back. Her round included three birdies — No. 1, No. 9 and No. 12 — three bogies, one double bogey and 11 pars.

On Wednesday, Heryford had bogeys on No. 1 and No. 3 but finished the front nine with six straight pars.

“Her putting was much better today. She was barely missing birdie putts yesterday and then even some early today,” Kahler said. “Once she got it going, it was fun to watch.”

She went into the water hazard on No. 3 and missed a birdie putt by a few inches on the par 5 No. 5.

She didn’t miss many birdie putts on the back nine though. Heryford opened the final nine holes with back-to-back-to-back birdies. The final two birdies on the back nine came on No. 16 and No. 17. There was not a bogey on the card after hole No. 3.

“I have never done that before,” Heryford said of draining five birdies on a front or back nine. “I was pretty upset after shooting two over on the front nine. We had conversations before the day started about trying to move up the leaderboard and I knew I couldn’t shoot 2 over again and make up any ground.

“It was a mental shift. Once you start bogeying a few holes you just want to give in. But I was able to get through it.”

After knocking down birdies on No. 10 and No. 11, Heryford chose to use her driver on the 308-yard par 4 No. 12. The other players in her group chose smaller clubs.

She hit the ball where she wanted to and kept her run of birdies going two shots later.

“I just wanted to swing hard at something. I didn’t want to take a timid swing,” Heryford said.

Heryford’s threesome, which included Iowa City Liberty’s Isabella Pettersen and Dubuque Hempstead’s Morgan Hawkins, had to pause their round for about 20 minutes while a few groups in front of them got log jammed at No. 14.

Heryford’s drive off the tee was nearly out of bounds left and she had to punch out to avoid further damage. But, a huge par putt from long distance saved her round and helped her maintain the momentum and finish strong.

“Sometimes when things slow down like that, it’s easy for me to lose interest and focus,” Heryford said about the long break. “I just told myself that I couldn’t do that and tried to stay in it. The way I was playing I knew I had to keep steady and not let that stretch affect me.

“It was a huge putt. My tee shot was bad. I had to punch out. That was a good putt. It kept me going.”

Heryford’s threesome featured three golfers who finished in the top five overall. Pettersen was third with a two-day score of 142. She went 71-71. Hawkins finished fifth with a 145. She shot a 74 on Wednesday after firing a 71 on Day 1.

West Des Moines Valley’s Paige Hoffman, the 2019 defending champion, was the first-round leader after shooting a 67 on Tuesday. She struggled on the back nine Wednesday, finishing with a 76 and settling for fourth with a 143.

Heryford enjoys the chase when it comes to closing the gap on opponents above her on the leaderboard.

“I knew what I had to do to get ahead of them. The first step was trying to catch the two girls I was playing with,” Heryford said. “That’s all I knew for sure. You don’t really know what everyone else is doing.”

Both Heryford and Kahler were at peace with the junior coming up short in her quest to win her first state title. Heryford can use the runner-up finish as motivation for next year.

“This was a great run and a great score,” Kahler said. “She can use this as motivation. She will be the big dog coming in next year. Put the target on your back and run with it. She should want to feed off this.”

The top eight finishers in 4A would have been a state champion in any other class. Heryford would have won the 3A title by eight shots.

“Class 4A is salty golf right now. It’s the best in the state of Iowa,” Kahler said. “I imagine if you take the top five golfers in 4A you could beat a lot of college teams.”