PINEHURST – Richmond Senior High School junior Hailey Miller may not have left the 4A NCHSAA state tournament with any hardware, but with one swing of the club, she did leave with her name etched into the state record book.
On Monday, day one of the two-day event, Miller made quite a few impressive shots on the front nine at Pinehurst No 3. On the course’s newly designed fourth hole, her chip shot from just off the green rolled to a stop just inches from the hole. She escaped the bunker on the sixth hole by popping the ball over a five-foot incline and dropping it a mere four feet from the hole for an easy putt.
However, it was her stroke from the course’s par three No. 8 that had everyone at Pinehurst Resort talking. With her five iron, Miller delivered the ball 166 yards to the green where it dropped, rolled toward the pin, and fell into the cup.
The hole-in-one shot was the first of Miller’s career. It was the first ace in at least a decade in the 4A state tournament and the first NCHSAA championship hole-in-one at any level since Joyce Zhang of Weddington High School recorded one in the 3A tournament in 2016.
Miller ended the season accomplishing all of the goals that she set out for herself back in August. “This year, I’m just trying to shoot lower and do the best I can so that I can get to regionals and states again,” she said during a preseason interview.
During her sophomore campaign, Miller took an average of 95.6 swings of the club for every 18 holes played. This fall, she dropped her stroke count by 10 per event averaging only 85.4 attempts in an 18-hole day.
In 2017, she was one of the last players to qualify for both the regionals and the state tournament. She finished the championship event in 74th out of 78 participants with a 36-hole score of 196 (+52). In 2018, she cruised into the regionals by hitting an 82 in the 18-hole season finale at Pinehurst No. 3, which is currently her lowest career score so far in scholastic play. In this week’s state tournament, she finished tied for 29th place out of the field of 78 with a 36-hole score of 171 (+35).
“Finishing tied for 29th is a great achievement, one I believe she will appreciate more once the end of the season settles for her,” said head coach Keith Parsons. “Regardless of how she finished, Hailey will always remember her first hole-in-one. To do it on this stage is incredible.”
