No day at the beach

Mary Sweeney could have gone to the beach with her friends Monday. After all, school is out for the Woodbury senior, and she'll be moving away from friends for college in the fall. The reigning Minnesota PGA Junior Player of the Year hit the links instead.

"I don't want to play at state and look back and have any regrets that I didn't work hard enough and I didn't do whatever I had to do," said Sweeney, who led the Royals to another state tournament berth last week. "Not going to the beach with my friends and going to practice was probably a smart decision."

Classic Sweeney.

After a conference round or regional tournament, Woodbury's No. 1 golfer will head to Hillcrest, where she's a member, to put in extra work. There's a Swing Room in the Sweeney household, where her two younger sisters, who are also teammates, work together by videotaping and critiquing each others' swings.

With the Minnesota High School Coaches Association pegging her at No. 3 in the state final rankings, it's certainly seems to have paid off.

At 5-9, Sweeney complements her booming drives with pinpoint accuracy from 150 yards and in. She recently earned medalist honors at the Class 3A Section 3 tournament by tallying a 159. She tied for second in the loaded Suburban East Conference and carded an average of 75.4 this season.

Sweeney's also developed a love -- and a habit -- of helping her teammates, especially the younger ones. During practice, co-head coach Cortnee Den Herder often sees Sweeney giving girls pointers and working with their swings. She's already contacted one of the school's top JV players -- a seventh-grader -- and set up plans to golf with her this summer.

"That just shows true dedication, not only to the sport, but to our school and to our team," Den Herder said.

She can't help it. That's the way Sweeney learned.

"I remember when I was a seventh grader, all the older kids were all about helping me and I just want to keep that tradition going for Woodbury golf," said Sweeney, who made the team as a seventh-grader and has plenty of state tournament experience, including a ninth-place finish at the event last year.

The Royals have reaped the benefits. The team scored 712 at the two-day section meet, finishing seven strokes ahead of second-place Rosemount. The team's overall improvement has been profound, as some of the younger girls have dropped scores between 11 and 15 strokes.

Katie Moore, Natalya Thakur, Kari Johnson, Rachel Letsche and Maggie Sweeney have helped Mary Sweeney shoulder the load into state, and they'll look for some low scores Tuesday and Wednesday at Bunker Hills.

Sweeney will head to the University of Idaho next year, where her swing coach, John Means, is also the men's head coach. The course is right on campus, the perfect setup for the golf-aholic.

"So in between classes I can go hit for 45 minutes and then go to my next class," Sweeney said.

She's already accomplished one of her goals in getting a scholarship to play golf. Now, she'll set out for her other benchmark: winning a state championship. No matter what, she's left her mark on Woodbury golf.

"She's definitely a delight and a one-of-a-kind player," Den Herder said. "I don't know if I'll ever see another player like her."