Charles Green
Staff Writer
The women’s golf team started their spring season losing to Pomona-Pitzer 380-335 last Friday at Via Verde Country Club.
In what was a sunny day perfect for golf with relatively little wind, the Leopards found scoring tough with the course playing a formidable test.
The woman’s team; which is made up of five players, four of whom are sophomores, was led by sophomore Christina Lou with a score of 89, but that was only good enough to bag herself a middle of the pack finish.
Liu, who is a new addition to the team following her transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, is expected to be a promising talent for the Leopards this upcoming season.
The next best in the clubhouse for the Leopards was sophomore Alexandra Hauck with a score of 91.
Hauck is one of the only Leopards to have played multiple rounds at Via Verde Country Club, but she found putting on the poa annua grass greens particularly frustrating.
“The greens are very tough here and very well sloped,” Hauck said.
Via Verde Country Club is now one of the home courses for both the women’s and men’s golf programs at La Verne.
It proves to be a tough track to play on with undulating hills, treelined holes and numerous hazards located around the course, according to some players.
“You have to keep it in the first cut of rough or the fairway here to be successful,” junior Alexi Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez, the Leopards’ most experienced player and shot 107, says her personal goal this season is to finish inside the top 20 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference individual scoring this season.
Sophomore Carly Nicholson finished ninth overall with a total of 93.
Despite holding the third best score for La Verne she had mixed feelings regarding her round.
“I had a good start and good finish, but it was a little rocky in the middle,” Nicholson said.
Moving forward with the season, Nicholson said she believes the team must improve its focus on putting and taking their time around the green.
Sophomore Tina Chaw rounded out the Leopards total with a score of 113.
Following the tournament’s result, assistant coach Sunny Marcum blamed the team’s poor score on her players being rusty and out of practice.
The team did not practice over the fall semester, so for many it was the first time they had been out on the course since last season.
Despite the team starting the season on the back foot, Marcum is optimistic the team will improve upon their bottom place finish in the SCIAC last season.
“Our teams’ attitude is awesome, and we are a lot more mature this season, so we hope we don’t come bottom,” Marcum said.
The Leopards will start conference play this season back at Via Verde Country Club on Saturday in SCIAC No.1.
Charles Green can be reached at charles.green@laverne.edu.
