Rain and playoffs deliver dramatic FCPS golf championships
Oakdale’s Landon Tudor won the boys title, Urbana’s Olivia Zheng captured the girls championship and Linganore repeated as team champion in a rain-soaked finish.
HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW
Oakdale sophomore Landon Tudor won the boys title with a 69. Catoctin’s Callen Edmonston finished one shot back at 70. Urbana junior Olivia Zheng won the girls title in a playoff after shooting 78. Claire Son and Celine Lieu also shot 78. Linganore and Urbana tied at 305 for the team championship. Linganore won the playoff for its second straight team title. Oakdale finished third at 307.
Heavy rain could not take the drama out of the Frederick County Public Schools golf championships.
Instead, it added to it.
Two of the three championships required sudden-death playoffs Tuesday at Clustered Spires Golf Club, while the boys individual title was decided on the final regulation hole.
Olivia Zheng wins girls title
Urbana junior Olivia Zheng broke 80 for the first time in an 18-hole round, shooting a 78.
She then learned that teammate Claire Son, the three-time defending county champion, and Walkersville senior Celine Lieu had also shot 78.
That forced a three-player playoff.
Zheng drove the opening playoff hole down the middle, chipped onto the green and two-putted to win her first county championship.
Landon Tudor takes boys crown
The boys championship came down to Oakdale sophomore Landon Tudor and Catoctin sophomore Callen Edmonston.
Both were 3-under entering the 18th hole.
Tudor saved par with two putts to finish with a 69, edging Edmonston’s 70 for the title. They were the only two players in the field to finish below par.
Linganore repeats as team champion
The team standings produced another tie.
Linganore and Urbana both finished with a 305, forcing what organizers said may have been the first sudden-death playoff for the county team championship.
Linganore sophomore Jackson Stanley sank a short birdie putt to secure the Lancers’ second consecutive team title.
Stanley shot an even-par 72 in regulation.
Linganore’s team score also included Karl Meredith’s 75, Johann Aguillon’s 76 and Jake Stanley’s 82.
Oakdale finished third with a 307.
The course conditions added another layer of difficulty.
Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls, and many bunkers filled with standing water were treated as ground under repair.
Despite the weather, the county’s top golfers delivered one of the closest championship finishes in recent memory.
WHAT IT MEANS
The championships showed just how little separates Frederick County’s best golfers.
Two titles required extra holes, and the boys championship came down to a single stroke on the final hole.
Linganore’s repeat also reinforces the depth of a roster that has multiple players capable of shooting in the 70s.
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