When Sara Kolar began playing golf, her calm demeanor was one of her strongest attributes. She enjoyed the challenges of the sport and did not get flustered by adversity.
But when Kolar began playing high school golf at Maplewood-Richmond Heights, her expectations rose and so did her frustration level after bad shots or missed putts.
Her older brother Kal, who played collegiately at Drury University, gave her a piece of advice after witnessing an emotional meltdown.
“He said, ‘If you want to score better, you’re going to have to chill out a little bit,’” she recalled.
A sluggish start Monday did not rattle the defending Class 2 state champion, as Kolar recovered to shoot a 3-under 69 and earn a share of the lead after the first day of the MSHSAA Girls Golf State Championships at Bogey Creek Golf Club in Springfield.
Kolar, who bogeyed three of her first five holes, finished with seven birdies and will enter the final day Tuesday tied with Wright City senior Morgan Nute and Lutheran St. Charles junior Emma Kombrink atop the leaderboard.
Blair Oaks leads the Class 2 team totals with a score of 345. Borgia is second, Strafford is third and Lutheran St. Charles is fourth.
As a sophomore, Kolar led the Class 2 field by two shots after the opening round of the state tournament before players faced a brutal wind during the final round. Kolar calmly braved the elements and shot a 74, six shots better than any other golfer that day.
“I felt (the conditions) would be to my advantage. I have a lot of tournament experience playing in the wind,” Kolar said.
With the win, Kolar earned the first athletics state title at Maplewood-Richmond Heights since the boys track team three-peated as state champions from 2009-2011.
On Monday, Kolar began the 2026 state tournament on the back nine at Bogey Creek Golf Club and bogeyed Holes 10, 13 and 14. An earlier version of Kolar may have struggled to recover. Instead, she made three consecutive pars before carding birdies on Holes 18, 1, 4, 5 and her final hole, No. 9.
“There are moments that you think, ‘That’s terrible.’ You feel like your world is ending. And then (the feeling) goes away and you don’t even remember what happened,” Kolar said. “Bad breaks are going to happen. Good breaks are going to happen. I’ve learned that no matter what happens, it’s never really that deep.”
Kolar recalled a previous tournament where she sliced a ball into a bunker, and immediately thereafter, her rangefinder stopped working.
“I thought, ‘Is this really how this is going?’ I just took a breath, looked at the markers in the ground and went off of feel. At the end of the day, it didn’t really affect my round that much.”
Maplewood coach Shane Dixon believes her mindset sets her apart.
“She’s very comfortable being uncomfortable. When it’s a less than stellar shot or it’s a missed putt and a three-footer coming back, there’s no jitters or nerves. It’s just, ‘This is what it is.’ She doesn’t really get rattled,” Dixon said. “That’s probably the greatest quality she has outside of her game, the mental part.”
Her shot-making game has continued to improve as well. Kolar loves to work out, and her driving distance is the recipient. Her pulverizing drives enable her to approach greens with short irons, which gives her a chance to make birdie on any hole.
“I’ve been hitting it a lot straighter and a lot farther, which has been helping me a lot,” Kolar said.
One thing Kolar has not experienced at the high school level is the team dynamic. While many players have a full golf team at the championship venue for companionship and camaraderie, Kolar is the lone member from Maplewood-Richmond Heights participating in the state tournament and one of only two members of the MRH team, along with junior Eliza Ross.
“I don’t feel like I’m missing out because I never really experienced the team aspect in high school. You still play your own ball, keep your own score,” Kolar said.
In her mind, Kolar does not play against other golfers, but rather, against her own previous scores.
“I think you play best when you’re playing against yourself. Playing against other people, you become too results oriented and you start to think too much. You need to be more in the present by trying to play against yourself,” Kolar said.
Kolar is involved in volunteer work through Key Club and is a member of Youth in Government Club, where she and her clubmates will present a bill to the state legislature in Jefferson City later this year.
On Tuesday, she hopes to be presented with a second consecutive state championship ring by focusing on herself and not the leaderboard.
“I’m genuinely going to try to shoot the best number I can,” Kolar said.
For a photo gallery from the Class 2 District 1 tournament, click this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Golf/Girls-Golf-2026/Class-2-District-1
Other local golfers in Top 5 after Day 1 of MSHSAA Golf Championships
Class 1: Tina Zhang, Whitfield– 5th place (82)
Class 3: Lisa Zhang, MICDS -1st place (74); Ashritha Nadella, MICDS – T-2nd (78); Amaya Belton, Nerinx Hall – T-4th (81)
Class 4: Haley Castello, Fort Zumwalt West – 3rd place (71) ; Isabel Flores, Fort Zumwalt North – 5th (73)