Scarberry rides out windy WOGA Junior Girls Championship

By Brett Tyndall
Photos by Bill Powell

EDMOND – After opening with a 4-under 67 and that gave her a 10-shot cushion on the field, ShaeBug Scarberry of Purcell shot a second-round 75 and cruised to the WOGA Girls’ Junior Championship, her second consecutive victory in that event. She finished 11 shots ahead of runner-up Faith Hopkins of Bartlesville, who shot 78-75.

Scarberry said every aspect of her game clicked on Thursday as she built the massive lead over her competitors, who struggled to master the winds and difficult green complexes on the Pete Dye-designed East Course at Oak Tree Country Club, site annually of the Oklahoma Open .

“Everything went really well yesterday,” Scarberry said. “I birdied four of the first five holes and made everything 10 feet and in. I was hitting it straight and making putts, so I was happy.”

Stronger winds gusting over 30 mph in the final round would not allow for a low score, but Scarberry played solid and avoided big numbers except for a double bogey on 17. Her 75 was more than good enough, but it didn’t come without some adversity:

“It felt pretty good to know I had the lead I had going into today, but I was a little frustrated after the bogeys on the two opening holes,” Scarberry said. “I had putts on my lines, but they weren’t falling and nothing seemed to go my way early on. But my caddie, who was my high school coach, kept me level-headed and told me to keep rolling it.”

Several weeks before she sought her third consecutive Class 3A title at Purcell, Scarberry fell victim to a freak accident where a man pulled a shot over the trees and by the range on her home course. The ball hit her on the back of her hand and put her in a cast for the weeks leading up to the state championship. She still managed a runnerup finish at the state championship, and has been regaining full strength since. She finished runnerup to Yujeong Son in the OGA Girls Junior Championship and last week earned a spot in the U.S. Girls Junior by leading qualifying at Dornick Hills Country Club.

“It means a lot to win here this week,” Scarberry said. “I’m still improving, I only had a couple months to practice coming in this week. I feel like I’m getting my game back, I’m starting to hit the ball better and the game as a whole feels more solid.”

Scarberry is hard to miss on the course, always sporting a multi-colored outfit, socks included:

“I actually got that from Morri Rose from the OJGT. We were playing the Red River Challenge a few years ago and Morri told the girls to ‘do something crazy with colors because I know the boys won’t do anything’. So we opted for the longer socks, I think we wore pink and green, and I just really liked the style, I thought it was cute, so I just hung onto it.”

Natalie Gough of Bixby finished third at 155 after rounds of 79-76. Sydney Hermann of Ponca City was fourth at 158 (78-80) and Alyssa Wilson of Yukon fifth at 160 (80-80).

Editor’s note: In the email version of the story that went out earlier, Hopkin’s scores were listed incorrectly as 88-75. See below for complete results on the WOGA website.

Click here for complete results.