SUNSET REGION: Shadow Ridge’s Weiderman tops former teammate for title

The scores for the Division I Sunset Region girls golf tournament had been posted for all of about five minutes when Allison Weiderman and Ashley Malone started to hatch their plan.

“Can we share a hotel room at state?” Malone asked Desert Oasis coach Ken Gibson.

Weiderman and Malone were teammates for two seasons with the Diamondbacks before the former transferred to Shadow Ridge for her senior year. On Tuesday, they briefly put their friendship aside and battled for the region title.

Weiderman came out on top as she shot a 5-over-par 77 at Anthem Country Club to earn medalist honors by four strokes over Malone.

“It was awesome getting out there and playing with her, but it was hard the whole time to go head to head,” Weiderman said. “It was definitely hard to go against girls that I was so used to being around.”

Weiderman’s round helped the Mustangs finish second in the team standings behind Bishop Gorman. The Gaels shot 348 to win their second straight region title.

Both teams and the top five individuals from nonqualifying teams advance to the Division I state tournament, which begins Monday at Somersett Golf and Country Club in Reno.

“We knew it was going to be real close the whole way,” Gorman coach Jim Stanfill said. “We were able to win the league, which is great. We were able to win the region tournament, which is step two. But our goal for this season is to win state. At least this gives us an opportunity.”

Weiderman played in a foursome with Malone, and they were tied at 4 over through 11 holes until a crucial two-hole stretch gave Weiderman the lead.

Weiderman scrambled to save bogey on the par-5 12th, while Malone struggled on the lightning-fast green and made double-bogey 7. On the short par-4 13th hole, Weiderman made a long birdie putt to take a two-shot lead.

“Getting that bogey, coming back I wanted to get that stroke back to get back to even (on the back nine),” Weiderman said. “You know, just trying to keep it level. I just grinded out the bogey and started over on the next hole and went at the hole.

“(The birdie) definitely boosted my confidence going to the next hole. And then as I kept parring, I started feeling better.”

Weiderman made par on four of the final five holes and finished 1 over on the back nine. Malone, meanwhile, played the final nine holes in 6 over, though she did birdie the par-5 18th hole to finish at 81.

“It means so much to me,” Weiderman said. “I really wanted this, and I’m really happy with the way I played and the way I finished. I feel really good about it.”

Gorman’s Megan Orgad shot 82 on the 5,270-yard layout and was third. Rebecca Oertel of Bonanza (85) and Durango’s Jasmin Marayonk (86) qualified as individuals for state. Shadow Ridge’s Katie Thomas also shot 86 to share fifth place.