Jericho eighth-grader Renna Chang wins Nassau girls golf championship
Renna Chang, Jericho eighth grader, uses an iron to tee off on Hole 15 of Bethpage State Park's Green Course during the Nassau girls golf individual championship on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Credit: James Escher
Renna Chang has been golfing for seven years, but when she first started playing, it was not something she enjoyed.
"I actually hated it. My dad would always force me to go practice and was tough on me if I hit a bad shot," said Chang, an eighth-grader at Jericho Middle School. "However, I realized he was doing it for a good reason. For the last two years I have really started liking it, began practicing more, and naturally my scores improved."
Chang shot a 6-over-par 77 on Wednesday on Bethpage Green, following a 6-over-par 77 on Bethpage Yellow Tuesday, to win the Nassau County girls championship in her first year on varsity with a 154 total.
She birdied holes two and eight on the final day of the tournament to conclude the front nine at 1-over 37, and parred three of her last four holes to shoot a 40 on the back.
Despite winning by eight strokes over the second-place finisher, Chang still wasn’t satisfied.
"I mean it’s nice, I’m glad I won, but I could have done better," Chang said.
Talk about a tough grader.
Chang was paired with seventh graders Madison Chen of Manhasset Secondary School and Lia Huang of Great Neck North Middle School. Chen finished second with a 162 total and Huang was third with a 166.
Chang, Chen and Huang all had the same swing coach growing up, James Hong, of Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington.
"It’s really cool to finish in the top three along with Renna and Lia," Chen said. "We have known each other for a while and went to camp together. It was a lot of fun to play with them today."
"I never expected us to be paired up together, but I was glad that we did," Huang said. "I think that the sport is becoming more and more popular among high school girls. I feel that a lot of middle schoolers will see this, and believe they can do it too."
The future of Nassau girls golf appears to be very bright.
Great Neck’s Andrea Zhou (168) placed fourth, Massapequa’s Natalie Moody (169) was fifth and Zhou’s teammate and seventh-grader Caylin Wong finished sixth (170). Garden City teammates Margaux Griffin (173) and Ava Charon (175) placed seventh and ninth respectively, while Syosset’s Olivia Chan (174) was eighth. Wheatley’s Joyce Chen (176) was 10th, and Syosset’s Abigail Wu and Jericho’s Katherine Yi tied for 11th with a 177.
Each player was presented with an all-county plaque.
Huang, Zhou and Wong led Great Neck District to the Nassau team championship with a two-day total of 886. Garden City placed second (894) and Manhasset was third (921).
