UNIVERSITY PARK — The PIAA held its annual Individual State Championship Golf Tournament on Oct. 20 and 21 at the Penn State University Golf Courses, and Madison Koshko successfully defended her 2024, AA Girls’ Title with an 8-under, 36-hole total of 136.
Koshko, a senior at St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy, scored four birdies on the second nine of Round 2 on Tuesday on the White Course and just edged Kate Sowers from West Middlesex and Alyssa Zhang from Shady Side Academy.
The three went into Round 2 tied at 4-under after they all shot rounds of 68 on Monday.
Then on Tuesday, playing together in the final group, they battled back-and-forth until Koshko settled the matter with a birdie on the par-5, 18th hole.
Sowers finished second with a 6-under, 138 total, and Zhang came in third with a 5-under, 139.
Cora Hirz from Fairview was fourth with a 147, and Koshko’s sister Olivia came in fifth with a 150.
Zhang actually took the lead in the tournament after the first nine on Tuesday with a 3-under, 33. Sowers was two strokes back with a 35 on the front, and Koshko shot an even-par 36 and was three strokes behind.
On the back nine, though, Koshko birdied 11, 13, 15 and 18, with no bogies, and came in with a 32, while both Zhang and Sowers ran into problems.
Zhang birdied 10, but struggled with bogies on 14, 15 and 18 to finish with a 38 on the back and a 71 total for the round.
Sowers, right there after a 35 on the front, double-bogied No. 13, and even though she birdied 17 and 18, she still came up two strokes shy of Koshko.
Koshko’s championship ended what was an extraordinary senior year with a conference championship, a 10-under, 62 in the District 6 Championship and now two 4-under rounds on the biggest stage of the year.
In the AAA, Boys’ Tournament, State College’s Luke McGraw rebounded from a first-round 79 with a 5-under, 67 on Tuesday to finish tied for 9th place on the Blue Course.
McGraw fired six birdies, including four on the back nine, with one bogie to post his 67.
McGraw’s teammate, Charlie Ladrido, shot two 77s and finished tied for 41st place.
Both McGraw and Ladrido will continue as part of the team tournament, which will be held on October 22.
Finally, in AA Boys, Philipsburg-Osceola’s Jake Lucas shot 87-86 on the White Course.
