A team of Oregon high school girls golfers made a strong bid to win the prestigious Girls Junior Americas Cup at Illahe Hills Country Club in Salem last week.
As the host of the three-day tournament – which featured 18 teams from western North America, including representatives from Canada and Mexico – Oregon shot a combined score of 2-over 650 to finish as runner-up by one stroke to Southern California.
The four players on Oregon's team qualified through a points system in Oregon Golf Association major junior tournaments this summer. The team included Madeleine Conser, Melinee Udom, Kate Ly and Hannah Wendorf.
“It's such a great team because it's all my friends,” Westview's Udom said. “It was the first time Oregon was hosting Junior Americas Cup in a long time. Going into this, we all really wanted to win as a team, and we knew we could have done it. We put ourselves into really good position the first and second day.”
Conser, who won the 4A/3A/2A/1A title as a freshman at Valley Catholic in 2024 but has not played high school golf the last two seasons, was Oregon's top scorer at 5-under 211. She shared tournament medalist honors with Gabriella Gu of San Diego.
Udom, the 6A champion as a sophomore in 2025, tied for fifth at 2-over 218. Ly, who graduated from Cleveland this year, tied for 10th at 221. Wendorf, the 6A champion as a sophomore at Lakeridge this year, tied for 36th at 234.
Oregon entered the final round two strokes behind first-place Southern California and had chances to take the title but was unable to capitalize.
“The final round, I know everyone didn't play the way we wanted to, but second is the highest we've placed in a long time, which is something to be really proud of,” Udom said. “It's such a fun tournament to play. It's so cool to see team Oregon play against other states.”
The second-place finish left the team a bit unfulfilled after being in position to win.
“That definitely stung coming up one short, but I think it just shows that we're able to get into contention as a team,” Udom said. “I think that's real motivating for us next year.”
The Oregon State-bound Ly is the only player who won't be eligible to earn a spot on the team next year, when the event is in San Diego. Conser (committed to Kentucky), Udom (committed to Brigham Young) and Wendorf will be able to return.
“Hopefully we all get enough points to play on the same team again,” Udom said. “There are a bunch of other junior girls who I think would be a great fit to replace Kate on the team.”
Since finishing runner-up to Wendorf in the 6A tournament, it's been a successful summer for Udom, who has won two OGA major junior tournaments.
She defeated Ly by one stroke to win the three-round Oregon Junior Stroke Play at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis June 17-19. She shot 4-under to win by 13 strokes in the two-round Central Willamette Junior Championship at Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla July 13-14.
Udom also tied for sixth in the Junior World Golf Championships by shooting 3-under 213 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., July 6-9. The performance came two years after she held a first-round lead in the event at Torrey Pines.
“I did have some expectations going into it,” Udom said. “I just wanted to beat my score from two years ago, and I did.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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