Kongshaug is girls’ state golf runner-up

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MADISON — Belle Kongshaug is only 14 years old but she is already among the best high school girl golfers in the State of Wisconsin.

The Elk Mound freshman capped a phenomenal inaugural season of varsity play as the Colfax/Elk Mound cooperative’s top golfer with a second-place finish and the silver medal in the WIAA Division 2 girls’ state golf championship. The tournament was held last Monday and Tuesday, October 10 and 11 at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison.

Kongshaug shot a two-day, 36-hole total of 151 to finish seven-over-par and just two strokes off the winning tally (149) put up by Prescott senior and University of Wisconsin recruit Ava Salay. Salay claimed her second straight individual Division 2 state title and helped the Cardinals claim a third consecutive state team championship.

“It was a great two days,” stated Ryan Krall, Colfax/Elk Mound girls’ golf coach.

“For Belle to be able to compete with the girl (Ava Salay) that we feel is the best player in the state – and almost beat her – was an unbelievable success for us. She hit it so well for two days,” Krall said of Kongshaug’s state performance.

Kongshaug finished with an even-par 72 following Monday’s opening round of 18 holes at University Ridge and led Salay by three strokes.

“I really thought she was going to be able to pull it off and win the whole thing,” added Krall. “But golf is a fickle game – one poor swing at the wrong time can have major consequences, and that’s kind of what happened for us on Tuesday.”

A trio of double bogeys by Kongshaug on the second and final day of play opened the door for Salay who took advantage and captured her second consecutive individual state title.

“But none of that takes away from what she was able to accomplish as a 14-year-old at her first state tournament,” said Krall.

The State meet was the third straight tournament in which Kongshaug and Salay went head-to-head. In the previous two, the regional and sectional meets, Salay took second and first, respectively, while Kongshaug placed third and second. 

After bogeys on the first two holes in her state tournament debut Monday, it took Kongshaug seven more holes before she started to feel comfortable and settle into her game. But, once she did, Kongshaug lit the course on fire.

After finishing with a four-over (40) on the front nine holes, Kongshaug birded the first three holes of her back nine and then three of the final five holes to shoot a 4-under (32) on the final nine to finish with an even-par 72, which according to Wisconsin.golf’s Rob Hernandez, was the lowest first-round score by a Division 2 golfer since current LPGA golfer Casey Danielson shot a 66 at Madison’s Cherokee Country Club in 2013 en route to her fourth consecutive state title.

After her first-round of state golf, Kongshaug held a three-stroke advantage over Salay entering day two. 

“Obviously, it’s really nerve-wracking on the first (drive); it’s your first state (tournament),” Kongshaug told Hernandez during an interview following the first day of competition. “On the front nine, I didn’t get a lot of breaks and wasn’t hitting it very well. On the back nine, I found something with my swing and made a lot of putts.”  

After parring hole 10 to open the second day of state play, Kongshaug double bogeyed holes 11 and 13 with a birdie on 12 to slip to three over. Even though Salay bogeyed two of her first three holes she also had a birdie to move to within a single stroke of Kongshaug.

While Salay had five pars and  a birdie over the next six holes, Kongshaug suffered a pair of bogeys on the par-four 15th and 18th holes to fall behind the Prescott senior by two strokes.

Although Salay shot three bogeys over the final nine holes, Kongshaug was unable to make up the two-stroke deficit as she double bogeyed on the par-four seventh hole and then finished with a bogey on the final hole at number nine to end the final day with a seven-over-par 79 compared to Salay who finished with a two-over-par 74.

Salay’s comeback to win her second straight individual state championship, after finishing as the state runner-up her freshman and sophomore seasons, helped Prescott overcome a four-stroke, first-day deficit to tie The Prairie School (Racine) for the Division 2 team lead at 684 strokes apiece at the end of regulation play. The Cardinals won an 18 to 20 playoff victory for their third consecutive D2 state team title.

While the future is never written in stone, it looks to be a bright one for Belle Kongshaug.

As Rob Hernandez so aptly wrote in his state tournament wrap-up article on Wisconsin.golf, “…Colfax/Elk Mound’s Belle Kongshaug, a freshman, could very well be the next big thing to come out of western Wisconsin,” with the departure of Salay for the college ranks. 

And her head coach would surely concur.

“To say that the future is bright is an understatement,” concluded Krall. “She has a chance to be really special.” 

Belle is the daughter of Jordan and Anne Kongshaug and appears to have received her link talents by way of her mother, who was a collegiate golfer for the Badgers.