LINCOLN — Turkey Creek Golf Club played host to Monday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division II girls golf tournament. Despite the course posing one of the longest, steepest and most challenging that many participants had ever played on — with the difficulty only increasing with the chilly weather and wet conditions — golfers from Turlock and Pitman high schools put in impressive performances.
After claiming the Central California Athletic League championship for the first time in program history this season with a 10-0 record, Pitman High just missed out on advancing to next week’s Masters Tournament, earning third place with a collective score of 504 at Monday’s divisionals. They were nine strokes off runner-up Woodcreek and 17 off champion Vista Del Lago.
Woodcreek had the lone player to score under-par 72 in the entire tournament — Abigail Lin with a round of 69.
Individually, Pitman will be represented by junior Clarissa Vallejo and Turlock by sophomore Brianna Cuenca and senior Frankie-Marie Ronveaux at next week’s Masters.
Cuenca posted an 89, the sixth-best round of the day out of the field of 60 student-athletes.
Vallejo paced the Pride with a round of 93, tying for seventh overall.
“Just playing smart and laying it up was definitely the plan for me,” Cuenca said of taking on the 5,853-yards course with thin fairways surrounded by oak trees. “If you go too long or go to left or to the right, you were out of bounds. Not a lot of room, so I just played smart in terms of the clubs… My seven iron and driver were working well. I was able to drive some greens, and it was really nice.
Like many competing Monday, it was Vallejo’s first time competing at a course of Turkey Creek’s nature. It has a 126 slope rating from the white tees.
“It’s my first time being at a place with all these hills and water (hazards),” Vallejo said. “Compared to the home course (Turlock Golf and Country Club), this was a lot different. Hitting my irons straight was super important, getting me out of trouble under the trees.”
Ronveaux tied with Natalie Lam of Kennedy High in Sacramento as the last individual qualifiers with rounds of 94. Instead of going to a playoff, the final qualifying position was initially conceded by Ronveaux, but after other had dropped out later in the week, it was determined that she'd be making the trip to Stockton after all.
Not all were up to the task of Turkey Creek. By tournament’s end, five golfers had withdrawn.
Another local qualifying as an individual was the CCAL individual champion from a week ago, Angelie Bahadur of Gregori High in Modesto, with a round of 87. Bahadur and Vallejo celebrated together after the final scorecards were submitted and saw that they each made the cut for Masters.
“I was nervous,” said Vallejo. “I didn't even expect to make it, and I’m in shock. Like, a 93, I thought I played really bad today with that, just dealing with the conditions. But now that I've made it to the Masters, it's a dream come true.”
Vallejo was joined by fellow senior Amaya Singh in breaking 100 for the Pride. Her round of 95 was a personal best. Sophomore Paige Jajko posted a 101, while senior Lexi Jeans also played a personal-best round of 106. Sophomore Layla Alvarez and senior Kilynn Vasquez rounded out the afternoon for Pitman with rounds of 109 and 116, respectively.
The Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament will be Monday, Nov. 3 from The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton. The action gets underway with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
The section will send the top three teams, as well as the individuals with the next best four scores, to the CIF NorCal Regional Championship on Nov. 10.
— Note: A recap of Tuesday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division V tournament featuring Hilmar, Hughson and Denair will be in Saturday’s Journal.
