Wasilla girl posts high finish in World Masters of Junior Golf event

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Madison Baca could be playing the best golf of her young life.

Just weeks after finishing fourth in the Alaska Golf Association adult state amateur, the Wasilla 12-year-old placed fourth in her age division of the World Masters of Junior Golf. Baca shot an 81 on the mountain course of the Angel Park Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nev., on Wednesday to cement herself within the top five of the girls’ 11-and-12-year old age division.

“I’m very pleased with her play,” Baca’s father Roger, who caddied for Madison, said by cell phone from Las Vegas. “She was two strokes from finishing in the top-four overall.”

Baca finished with an 80 on the first day and posted her best score of the tournament, a 75, during the second day of the event. Her 81 Wednesday gave her a three-day total of 236.

Baca’s older sister Rynae, a former Alaska state amateur champion, placed seventh in the girls’ 13-and-14-year-old age division. Rynae, 14, finished with a two-day total of 156.

Rynae Baca’s 80 during the second day left her three strokes out of sixth place. Only the top six players in each age group moved on to the final day.

Rynae Baca finished third in the Alaska state amateur earlier this summer.

Roger Baca said his daughters had to adjust to the incredible heat of the Southern Nevada desert.

“The heat here averaged 107 (degrees),” Roger Baca said. “The heat might have gotten to them a little bit.”

The young Wasilla golfers will stay in the Lower 48 to make the trip to Pinehurst, N.C., to compete in the U.S. Kids Junior World and U.S. Kids Teen World golf championships in early August.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.