Manley wins 3rd straight state golf title
♦ Calhoun senior shoots two rounds of 73 for the rare GHSA three-peat
Calhoun High School senior Ella Manley is the king of Georgia High School girls golf.
Or in this case — the queen. Shooting consecutive rounds of 1-under par 73 Monday and Tuesday, the young lady with the bright smile and the big swing shot a 2-under par 146 earlier this week at the Fields Ferry Golf Club to win her third consecutive GHSA 5A girls state championship.
“And we’d like to think Ella may have went 4-for-4 and won it four years in a row, but it all got shut down in 2020 when she was a freshman due to Covid,” Calhoun girls golf coach Clay Stephenson said shortly after her triumph. “So obviously we’ll never know if she would have won it that year, but going 3-for-3 at the state tournament like she did these last three years is still pretty awesome. It’s an incredible accomplishment and it’s been a lot of fun to watch.”
Manley said winning that third straight crown was definitely her goal and she couldn’t be happier.
“It feels awesome,” she said minutes after completing her second and final round Tuesday on the windy course. “I”m very happy that I was able to pull this off. I’m very grateful that the countless hours I put in have paid off.”
Then she got a little sarcastic and funny.
“While my friends are out doing other things, enjoying themselves and their lives, I’m out here on the golf course sweating and putting in all this work to continue to get myself ready. That blood, sweat, and tears thing is so true,” Manley said, smiling. “But no, this was my goal — to win a third straight (state) championship. This is what I was working for. So being here on my home course, with my friends and family and the town and the school supporting me, it was everything I had hoped for. So I feel really good that I was able to pull it off.”
Stephenson said if she was nervous at all, she didn’t let it show on the course.
“There was a lot on her shoulders,” he said. “There’s a lot of nerves there. You’re on your home course. You’re the two-time state champ and you’re trying to threepeat, so there was a lot on her shoulders. but she did a good job (Monday and Tuesday). She played really well. She played really solid and came through with the win.”
This state tournament was different from the past two for Manley in that she was pushed all the way through after she won the state title in 2021 by 34 strokes and last year by 20 strokes. But on the first day of play on Monday, Manley shot a 1-under par 73 and was just two shots ahead of Emily Jenkins of Union Grove, who shot a 75.
“The other girl played very well,
especially early,” Stephenson said of Jenkins. “They were neck-andneck the whole time. Ella had that two-shot lead, but she just stayed steady and solid and was able to pull it out at the end. And that’s the way golf is. Whether you have a good hole or a bad hole, you’ve still got to go hit your next shot, so Ella did a good job of staying grounded and staying focused, even though that other girl was right there with her.”
“I think today, I felt kind of nervous at first,” Manley said of Tuesday, the second and final day of play. “But then as the round continued, I kind of got my groove and I stayed confident in my game and it just all worked out. I never stopped believing I was going to win. I’m confident in my game. Confident in my abilities. I just knew the last few holes, I really needed to play the way I can.”
She said there has been pressure on her since long before Tuesday
when she entered her final round as a high school player with a twoshot lead at the state tournament.
“I have felt pressure since I won it my sophomore year,” Manley said. “I won it that year and I was like, ‘I gotta win it again,’ and then when I did win it again, I was like, “well, I gotta win it again my senior year,’, so I definitely felt that pressure today. And not just because someone was right behind me (on the leaderboard), but because I have so many friends and family here as well and because this is something that I’ve been working for. But now that I have done it, it feels awesome.”
She secured the win by pulling away on the back nine on Tuesday, shooting a 34 over the last nine holes and she pared seven of them with birdies on both of the Par-5, 16th and 18th holes, scoring a four on each.
Manley said the realization her high school career was ending
came to her on her first shot on 18.
“I started thinking about that on my tee shot on the 18th,” she said. “I took my shot and then I looked at (Coach Stephenson) and said, ‘well, I guess that’s the last tee shot I will ever take a Calhoun Yellow Jacket.’ But I think that motivated me a little more and made me determined to finish strong.”
And that’s what she did, sinking a long putt on her fourth shot of the hole for the birdie that gave her a second score of 73 as the crowd watching her roared and she raised her right arm in victory.
With rain in the area and a cold wind coming in all day, Manley had a 39 on the first nine, including a double-bogey on the Par 5, 418yard second hole. But she came back to birdie the Par-3, 150-yard fifth hole and was even par on the other seven to lead Jenkins by three shots to start the second half of her day.
Manley, who graduated Friday
night, will now attend Middle Tennessee State University on a golf scholarship and she was very excited that her soon-to-be-college coach Chris Adams made it to Fields Ferry to watch her prized pupil go for a third consecutive gold medal.
“She surprised me by being her, but I’m excited about going to Middle Tennessee State,” Manley said. “I love my coach. She’s awesome and I was thrilled that she was here today to watch me play. I didn’t know she was coming so I was excited to see her and wanted to play well with her being her. But I’m definitely looking forward to the next challenge and playing golf in college.”
Besides Manley, Calhoun freshman golfer Taylor Robinson also competed for the Yellow Jacket and had a two-day score of 211. Robinson had a 110 in the first round on Monday, but then knocked nine strokes off that on a tough weather day Tuesday for a 101.