DELAWARE — Maura Murphy is her own critic.
The Pleasant senior won the second Mid Ohio Athletic Conference girls golf tournament of the season on Tuesday, but she was left wanting more after posting a 75 at Oakhaven.
“I was fighting myself. I had to finish my round and play as best as I could,” she said. “The good thing is my game was pretty rough on the back. The back is pretty narrow. When we got to the front, it’s more open and there are more opportunities to maybe hit some not so great shots, but still make pars.”
In the end, she was good enough to win by three strokes over Highland’s Ceci Grassbaugh, whose 78 was one shot from her 18-hole school record.
More: Best of the Week: Pleasant’s Maura Murphy leads area’s top performers
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After a perfect summer of winning seven of seven Heart of Ohio Junior Golf Association events to take the girls 13-to-18 age group championship, Murphy hasn’t let up during the fall high school season.
The only tournament she has lost so far was the Spartans Invitational at Marion Country Club, where Olentangy standout Meadow Tian shot a 69 to Murphy’s second-place effort of 73. She lost medalist honors to Grassbaugh during an in-week dual; teammate and cousin Maddie Murphy rose up to beat her 41 to 42 in another dual on Monday.
Other than that, it’s been all wins for Murphy, including at a 13-team tourney in Mount Vernon.
“She’s been incredible this year,” Pleasant coach Jeff Davis said.
She shot a 31 for nine holes and a 69 for 18 this season in matches and tournaments, which Davis said could be MOAC records.
“You saw what the HOJGA scores were and they weren’t quite what she was up to when Dina (Shah, Pleasant graduate and former No. 1 golfer) was playing with her, but she didn’t really have anybody to push her,” Davis said. “Now she does a little bit with Maddie and Ceci. It helps her when she plays with good players.”
Dynastic Spartans
Pleasant has only fielded a girls golf team for three seasons, but its dominance over the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference continues. The Spartans haven’t yet lost an MOAC match or tourney.
On Tuesday at Oakhaven it was more of the same as they shot 367 to beat second-place Ontario by 32 strokes. Clear Fork and Highland again tied for third at 451, but again the Colts won the place through the fifth player tiebreaker. Galion was fifth at 482.
The Spartans lead the revamped MOAC standings with 16 points.
“The rest of the girls are shooting well. Maddie is about five shots under her average last year. Anna (Songer) is one or two below hers, and Maura is two shots below hers from last year,” Davis said. “It helped that they’re all doing better, and to have Whitney (Waddell) come around so quickly has been really nice.”
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Maura Murphy, Pleasant girls golf remain unbeaten in MOAC history
