Staff report

COLUMBUS — Fort Loramie junior Emily Knouff followed up her 77 in the first round on Friday with an 81 Saturday for a final score of 158 and eighth place overall at the Division 2 State Golf Championship held on the Gray Course at Ohio State University.

Knouff was making her second appearance in the state tournament, having qualified as a freshman. She shot 158 that year, too, and it placed her 11th.

Her coach, Mike Anthony, said it came down to putting on Saturday.

“She hit the ball just as good as she did Friday, but she couldn’t get any putts to drop,” he said. “The pin placements were tough, and they’re going to be in the finals of a state tournament. Pretty much everybody struggled.”

She started out with a double-bogey on the first hole, and followed that with two bogeys. She then birdied the fourth hole, but then double-bogeyed the fifth and bogeyed the sixth before finishing the front nine with three pars for a 42.

Then on the back nine, she had five pars and four bogeys for a 39.

“If her putts were falling, I think she could have made a charge,” said Anthony. “The girl that won it came from four back. It was an interesting day and a good experience for Emily.”

Meanwhile, the Versailles girls finished eighth out of 12 teams in the final D-2 team standings.

The Lady Tigers shot a 762. Cortland Lakeview was the state champion with a 694.

Jorja Pothast led the Lady Tigers with a 185 on rounds of 93 Friday and 92 Saturday.

Maddie Covault shot 94-97 191, and Lauren Durham shot 101 on Friday and a team-best 90 on Saturday to also finish at 101.

Lauren Heitkamp was Versailles’ fourth-best, shooting 98-99 for a 197. Morgan Heitkamp finished with 106-97 203