Milford’s Megan Creager shot a 4-over par 76 at the district tournament, good enough to put her in a playoff to advance to state, which she won on the third hole.

Milford’s Megan Creager shot a 4-over par 76 at the district tournament, good enough to put her in a playoff to advance to state, which she won on the third hole.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

Surrounded by her teammates, coaches and family on the third green of the Meadows course at Weatherwax Golf Course in Middletown, Megan Creager finally knew what she had accomplished. She was going to state.

“It didn’t hit me until I shook my competitor’s hand; I didn’t realize that I had won,” the Milford senior golfer said. “All of my emotions came out at once and I didn’t know how to react. A smile never left my face that entire day. It was just so exciting.”

Exciting, exhausting and historic.

Teeing off at 9:40 a.m. along with the fellow No. 1 players from Oak Hills and Miamisburg, Creager’s state tournament berth was far from a sure thing, especially after her front nine.

Playing Valley View, a course Creager admitted she wasn’t as comfortable on, and turning onto Meadows at the 36-hole facility, Creager stumbled out of the gates to shoot a 4-over par 40 on the front nine.

“I told myself I needed to get it together because an 80 certainly wasn’t going to get me to state,” Creager said of her self pep talk at the turn. “I’m comfortable playing Meadows because I’ve played it more. I told myself, ‘it’s game time. You’ve got to turn it on here,’ and I did.”

Creager’s even par 36 on the back nine was second only to Bellbrook’s Miranda Greene’s 2-under par 34. Greene was the medalist with an even par 72.

Putting a 4-over par 76 on the board, Creager and her teammates had to play the waiting game in the clubhouse while the other district qualifiers — teams and individuals — finished their rounds and posted their scores.

Nearly two hours later, Creager had officially tied for third place individually with Morgan Eib of Springboro and Kellen Alsip of Sycamore. With Eib’s Springboro team qualifying as a team, Creager and Alsip went to a sudden-death playoff to determine which of the two would represent the Southwest Ohio district at the state tournament in Columbus.

“We didn’t get any time to warm up or putt and I had been sitting (inside) for two hours,” Creager explained. “That made me a little nervous.”

Her nerves were quelled a bit knowing that the playoff would be contested on the Meadows course. Creager made a testy five-foot putt for par on the first playoff hole and Alsip matched her with a three-footer of her own. Pars on the second for both sent them to the third hole, the hardest handicapped hole on the side.

“Kellen pulled her drive a little left into a line of trees and Megan hit a beautiful drive to 140 yards in, right down the center,” Milford head coach Sandy Garrison said. “Kellen had to punch out and pitch on to about 20 feet for par. Megan put her (approach) to 25 or 30 feet and putted that up to about six inches and tapped in.”

Alsip wasn’t able to convert her lengthy par try and after nine hours on the property and 21 holes later, Creager had punched her ticket to state.

The senior becomes the first Milford girls’ golfer in school history to qualify for the state tournament. The state tournament will be contested on The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Gray Course on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17 and 18.

Playing alongside the best in Ohio, Creager is keeping her expectations close to the vest, but her coach believes she will thrive under the state’s brightest spotlight.

“I think Megan will be in her element,” Garrison said. “Over the past year, I think for Megan the most growth has come in her mental game. I’m not talking course management, I mean what she thinks when she’s on the golf course about being competitive and knowing what it takes. She’s upped her mental game and she has that confidence.

“There’s no doubt in my mind she can play with those girls. The sky’s the limit for her. She’s been playing at a state level all year and on any given day she can put up a number and compete with anybody.”

Creager will play a practice round at The Gray Course on Thursday, Oct. 16 and tee off in the first round of the 36-hole tournament on Friday, Oct. 17 at 9:40 a.m. Players will be reseeded for Saturday’s final round according to their first-day scores.

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