Girls Golf emerges victorious in PCL Finals

Heidi Jin, Staff Writer 


Girls Golf won the first, second, and third places in their PCL Finals match with scores of 113, 117 and 118 strokes this Monday and Tuesday.
“We swept the first three places,”  Coach Kevin Kasper said. “[Senior] Nodoka [Honda] won first, [senior] Dana [Choi] won second, and [junior] Alexis [Kim] won third place.”
The PCL Finals was a 36-hole match where the girls played as individual golfers. However, due to the weather, the match was being cut down to 27 holes. All competitors participated only in the first 9 holes on Monday, and the ones who scored equal or less than 49 on par 36 could continue on Tuesday for the rest of the match.
“It’s definitely longer… they have some ponds,” Senior captain Emy Zhu said. “ But just based on the structure of the course, it’s kind of the same [to our home course].”
Despite the strict requirements of entering the second round, all the girls scored less than 49 strokes. Honda, Choi, Kim, junior Emily Tao, and freshman Millie Batra gained eligibility to complete this 2-days match.
We were really proud of that,” Kim said.
The weather was a major obstacle to the girls’ success since the wind would alter the direction of where the ball goes and the landing position of the ball. Strong wind requires the girls to adjust their aim immediately according to the direction of the wind.
“There was a lot of wind and I hated it,” junior Emily Tao said. “It was terrible, I got hit with a branch.”
Nevertheless, the wind did not shake the girls’ determination to succeed. Every single one of them was able to overcome external difficulties and focus solely on the game.
“[The girls] played really well under such golfing conditions,” Coach Kasper said. “It was a tough fought out win.”
PCL finals was a challenge to all the players on the team. 
“[The game] was pretty tough and the scores were pretty low,” Kim said. “But it was still competitive.”
Approaching the end of the season, the girls are preparing for their individual and team CIF matches.
“As we start… to move to CIF as a team, the first two players need to continue to play well,” Kasper said. “And the other three girls definitely need to be consistent.”
The girls will be playing a practice round on Thursday, October 25 for the final team CIF on Monday, October 29 at Mile Square Golf Course.