Canyon del Oro. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Tyla Greenwood took 25th place in her freshman season but that was long ago, in a different time and a very different place. Mica Mountain competed in Division III in 2023 as a new program with low numbers and Greenwood was the only girl in the playoff rotation for the Thunderbolts but she was good, very good. Greenwood was one of several girls in the state to finish in the top 25 in the coed conference and her team took fourth place. Now, as a senior, Greenwood has a medal to prove she is the best Division II golfer in the state of Arizona after the senior beat the field by two strokes to claim the individual championship.

D-II has proven to be wide open on the individual side of the ledger after Greenwood became the seventh different champion over the last seven years and there will be a different champion at this level next year with Greenwood taking her talents to Eastern Washington. We had a similar situation on the team side with Chaparral beating Canyon del Oro 611-675 to claim the first title for the Firebirds since 2009 but, beyond that, Chaparral filled the void that was left when Cactus Shadows, Ironwood Ridge and Sahuaro didn’t qualify as a team this year and Casteel moved to D-I action. We were guaranteed a different team champion for the first time since 2014 once the regular season ended.

Individual top finshers from left to right. (ANdy Morales/AZPreps365)

COMPLETE RESULTS HERE

 

Greenwood (69-72: 141) led the field by one stroke after the first round on Monday after shooting a 3-under-par 69 and she built a three-stroke lead after four straight birdies on Tuesday but a bogie on the ninth and 14th hole helped ALA-Gilbert North junior Lexi Goyen (70-76: 146) close the gap and then Greenwood picked up another bogie on her final hole to make things closer with Goyan back within one shot of sending the championship round to extra holes. Goyen was unable to make up the difference on her final hole and she fell behind Seton Catholic senior Cynthia Lang (72-21: 141) for third place.

The delayed celebration for Greenwood was obviously an emotional one but the Firebirds pretty much had this championship in hand as the top-ranked team by almost 10 points coming in and the team followed through with a 30-shot lead heading into the final round. Second place, however, provided to provide much of the drama. Canyon View came in ranked No. 2 behind Chaparral and Canyon del Oro was No. 7 but Canyon del Oro built what looked like a sizeable lead over Canyon View midway through the first round only to see the Jaguars finished strong and the team started the second round with a slim 341-342 lead over the Dorados.

Canyon View started to fall back on Tuesday and then Seton Catholic made a strong push but the Dorados rebounded to take second over the Sentinels 675-683. This was the second runner-up finish for the Dorados with the first coming in 1998.

TYLA GREENWOOD

CHAPARRAL HEAD COACH JASON SPEIRS

CDO HEAD COACH BRENT WATKINS

 

SOME FREE PHOTOS HERE

Tyla Greenwood. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Cynthia Lang. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Lexi Goyen. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Charlene Lamb. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Isabel Helgemoe. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Calleigh McMahon. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Caroline Hoang. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)