Buoyed by a putter that awoke on her final five holes, Henderson rallied with the seventh-best round of the day of anyone in the field - a crisp, little 82 - vaulting her into a 19th-place tie with a two-day total of 175 at Roy Kizer Golf Course.

 

Leonard coach Greg Connelly and Amber Henderson

"I was ecstatic when I walked off that last green," said Henderson, who was third at the Region II tournament. "I finally made some putts, and I was glad to finish that way."

The tournament, however, opened Monday morning under rainy, hazy skies.  Her opening-round 93 started off harmlessly, with a front nine score of 42 - quite respectable in this high-powered field in a steady drizzling rain.

But things came unwound in a hurry, as her normally reliable long game began to leak in every direction. She spent shot after shot bailing herself out of trouble, only to see putts wobble on the edge of the cup and stay out. Everything that could have gone wrong did en route to a back-nine 51.

 

Amber Henderson rips one down the fairway at the UIL State Golf Championships.

"I couldn't wait to get off the course Monday," said Henderson. "Despite what it looked like, I didn't aim for all those hazards. When we finished, I didn't want to talk to anybody about anything having to do with golf. Coach (Greg) Connelly banned all golf talk Monday night and told me to think about having fun - that this was supposed to be a game. My grandmother called and asked me about my round, but I told her all golf talk was forbidden. I just didn't want to play or talk about it anymore.

 

"With the first overall pairing on Tuesday carrying an 8 a.m. tee time,
there wasn't much time to adjust. Connelly liked what he saw on the range just before she teed it up.

"She had a nice little draw with every club," said Connelly. "It was
looking good. And the weather was cloudy but dry. She had a good chance for a solid round."

Henderson started on the back nine Tuesday, and the same holes that crushed her first round with a 51 were a little kinder on this day. The 44 she produced was free of penalty strokes and featured shots that stayed out of the hazards, but the putts still weren't dropping. The front nine, however, was stunning. She played the last five holes in one-under par for a 38 to card an 82 and leap past several competitors into the top 20. She finished her career with 25 high school tournaments under her belt, never finishing out of the top six in any of them except the three state tournament appearances.

 

Amber with mom Marilynn Henderson