Few argued that Sophie Cao was the outright individual star of this week’s 6D North Region golf tournament.
The Langley Saxons’ sophomore not only shot a second-round, 4-under-par 68 to rally and win the individual championship with a two-day, 36-hole score of 72-68-140.
Her strong play helped her high-school team charge from five strokes behind after the first round to win the team title for an eighth straight season.
Langley (311-298-609) and the Washington-Liberty Generals (306-303-609) tied for first after regulation play at the tourney, played Oct. 1 and 2 at Bristow Manor Golf Club in Prince William County.
That forced a sudden-death playoff, which Langley won on the second hole when Cao made a clinching five-foot birdie putt. On the first hole, Cao made another birdie putt from seven feet that kept the match tied, forcing a second hole.
She started strong in the second round, standing 4-under after the first six holes.
Including the two playoff holes, Cao’s round included eight birdies.
“When I got off to a fast start, winning was on my mind,” Cao said. “I trusted my game, hit my approach shots close to the hole and made putts.”
The 68 was Cao’s lowest score in high-school competition.
“Sophie was so good in this tournament, especially today,” Langley coach Duane Beane said. “She made all of those putts, some that were so clutch.”
Cao won the individual title by one shot over junior and first-round co-leader Finn Watson (70-71-141) of Washington-Liberty.
“Sophie doesn’t make mistakes,” Watson said. “She hits fairways and greens and makes putts. I hung in there with her, but she got ahead early and I couldn’t catch up.”
Cao added that “Finn kept the pressure on me.”
Also for Langley, senior Andrew Hwang shot 73 the second round, with pars on 17 straight holes before three-putting to bogey the 18th. His two-round total was 79-73-152.
“I was pretty good with the irons and I two-putted my way through 17 holes,” Hwang said.
Langley senior Sara Wang shot 83-80-160, senior Shakthi Pattabiraman, 87-77-164, senior Jacob Stansbury 77-90-167, senior Harrison Smith shot a first-round 89 and freshman Brennan Webb a second-round 82.
“Our golfers all stepped up and closed today,” Beane said.
The McLean Highlanders had another strong region showing with a fourth-place finish at 316-305-621. The team finished in the top four each of the past two seasons.
J.T. Deevy shot 78-73-151 to lead McLean, Kyle Li shot 78-74-152, Nicholas Lee shot 83-74-157, Kevin Ren 77-85-162, Lauren Wood 83-84-167 and Alex Mallus 85-87-172.
“That was one of our best rounds,” McLean coach Ryan Abrams said about the final 18. “This team didn’t set goals this year. But we wanted to be playing our best golf at the end of the season, and we were.”
Madison High School sophomore Ryan Moseley had a strong tournament, shooting 74-73-147 to finish fourth and earn a berth into the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament.
He made 30 pars and two birdies over the two days.
“It was boring golf – fairways, greens and a bunch of two putts. But that was good enough,” Moseley said.
Madison’s team score was 325-310-635, with Jack Cilman shooting 77 the second day and Ethan Wasserman 79.
The Oakton Cougars shot 323-324-647 and were led by a 78-79-157 by Ben Shield, a 78-80-158 from Ryan Kim and an 80-81-161 by Ryan Yoon.
The Chantilly Chargers finished third at 313-303-616 with Connor McCarthy (77-72-149) and Patrick O’Rourke (74-68-142) earning state berths.
The one-day, 18-hole Class 6 state tournament is Oct. 15 at the Golf Club at Lansdowne in Loudoun County.
