Herndon Golfers Patrick Miller, Julie Luo Complete Season at States

Two Herndon golfers wrapped up their high school golf seasons Tuesday at the Virginia Class AAA state tournament in Lorton.

Julie Luo, a Herndon resident who attends Thomas Jefferson, recorded a two-day score of 77-75—152 on the par-71 course, good for a tie for 19th-place. Patrick Miller, a senior at Herndon High School, finished in a tie for 36th with a 159 (82-77).

Luo, a freshman, will have three more shots at the tournament, where she tied with Chantilly’s Juhee Bae for the second-best finish among females. If she makes the tournament next year, Luo will  be looking forward to having both facets of her game—ball-striking and putting—working at the same time.

“I was a little better, hitting more fairways, hitting more greens,” she said, comparing her two rounds in the state tournament to her two rounds last week at the regional tournament. “But then there were more three putts.”

Luo said the last time she played her best was when she won the Liberty District individual championship at the end of September.

“At districts I played well. Both parts of my game were on,” she said after finishing her round on the ninth hole at Laurel Hill Golf Club. “Then regionals, one day I was good with my swing, and then the other day I was good with my short game. Then states, my short game was never really [there]. I’ve been missing. I missed a lot of putts today.”

Langley won the tournament’s team title, and Chantilly placed second. Luo said she would like to see her Jefferson squad make it to the state tournament at some point in her career so she doesn’t have to play alone.

How can the Colonials raise their game?

“A lot of the players are starting to play more competitive golf. We’re all going to improve together. We’ll go out and play a lot together,” Luo said.

Miller, on the other hand, finished his golf career as he made his last putt on the 9th hole. He will be focusing on playing the viola in college, where he plans to be a music major. In fact, he passed up a music lesson with a professor at Penn State University on Monday in order to compete in the golf tournament.

Just as students might visit a class during a campus visit, potential music majors will often take lessons with professors, Miller said.

“But I really wanted to do this [the golf tournament],” he said. “I’m glad I did.”

Miller, who didn’t even make it to the regional tournament in his three previous high school seasons, said he couldn’t have imagined a better end to his high school career.

“This has been a terrific year for golf. I won one of the tournaments and this has been a terrific year  [for Herndon’s team]. We made it to regionals and I played very consistently. I’m happy about that,” said Miller, who struggled and carded a 47 on his second nine during Monday’s round. “My mindset was: I’m not going to be doing this in college so I can go out and have as much fun as I want.”

Miller said he would like the returning Herndon players to have fun on the course next year, more than anything else.

“Golf is a game first,” he said. “A lot of the team is leaving, but just enjoy the opportunity to play great courses. Enjoy being part of a varsity sport.”