The Hamilton County Reporter has named Westfield junior Samantha Brown as its 2022 Girls Golf Player of the Year.
Brown played consistently outstanding golf from the beginning of August to the state finals. While she started the season late after playing the Junior PGA Championship, Brown jumped right into Indiana high school golf, winning the State Preview meet at Prairie View on Aug. 6, the first Saturday of the season.
That would be the first of six big tournaments that Brown won during her 2022 campaign. After that, Brown was victorious in the Western Invitational (at Chippendale), the Hall of Fame Classic (at The Legends), the Hoosier Crossroads Conference meet (at Bear Slide) and the Courtney Cox Cole Invitational (at Harbour Trees).
Brown then won the Guerin Catholic sectional at Pebble Brook in a seven-hole playoff for her sixth championship of the season. Brown would go on to finish tied for sixth place at the IHSAA state finals, then earn All-State honors. Along the way, she committed to Purdue University. Brown also had the county’s best nine-hole score of the year, with a 31 during an Aug. 25 meet at Wood Wind.
Carmel’s Claire Swathwood had the best 18-hole score, with a 65 at Bloomington Country Club in the Greyhounds’ first meet of the year, the Bloomington South Invitational. Swathwood would go on to help Carmel win a state championship, its first since 2013, and won the Lafayette Jefferson regional at Battle Ground Golf Course. Noblesville’s Caroline Whallon also had post-season success, sweeping the Noblesville sectional at Harbour Trees and the Lapel regional at Edgewood, in addition to winning the Hamilton County meet on Aug. 4.
