Golf team continues successful season with victory over
Watsonville High
Through four home golf matches this year – and six overall
matches – the girls golf team has proven one thing: Losing is going
to be rare.
San Benito has dominated through its league schedule by going
5-1 – including Tuesday’s 190-235 blowout of Watsonville. And with
only three matches left, there is no reason to believe the good
play won’t continue.
Golf team continues successful season with victory over Watsonville High
Through four home golf matches this year – and six overall matches – the girls golf team has proven one thing: Losing is going to be rare.
San Benito has dominated through its league schedule by going 5-1 – including Tuesday’s 190-235 blowout of Watsonville. And with only three matches left, there is no reason to believe the good play won’t continue.
“I think its a combination of natural talent that the girls have and working on their game,” first-year head coach Corryn Martin said. “We have been practicing hard and focusing on what they need to work on. They have that natural skill and they come out and work on the things they need to improve on.”
She continued, “And it’s all gravy from there. They are doing well.”
The Balers have relied on depth and Emiley Palmquist – who has carded the lowest score during every San Benito contest – to succeed this year.
Palmquist’s skills were on full display Tuesday.
Only three holes in, on the 13th fairway – the Balers played the back nine during Tuesday’s match – Palmquist gave herself a tough shot to make par.
Up a slight hill and to the right of the hole, Palmquist’s ball rested on the fringe and rough of the green. But that didn’t matter as Palmquist chipped the ball from 15-feet away to sink the shot.
The miraculous shot seemed even greater after the Watsonville’s top two struggled to make a putt on the green.
“My chipping was good – that’s for sure,” Palmquist said. “My putting wasn’t that great – I had a couple of three putts – and my hitting was okay.”
Despite carding a match-low 42, or 6-over par, Palmquist was disappointed that she double-bogeyed the final two holes.
“The first few holes I played good but the last two went downhill,” she said. “I think mentally, I think … I wasn’t concentrating on the last couple of holes.”
And it’s that “never good enough” attitude that drives the team to be so successful, Martin said.
“She is definitely a leader – she is a co-captain with McKenna (Bernosky) – she is a leader on this team,” Martin said. “She is out here putting before practice starts. She plays when she isn’t required to. She is an inspiration.”
For Martin, the practices that have allowed the team to shoot lower scores every week, she said.
“It’s getting that consistency and that’s what they will establish as they keep playing,” Martin said. “I think the biggest thing is playing and playing often – and enjoying the game.”
And the practices have started to do that, Lexi Branon said.
“I think we are spending a lot of time on putting and really going back to the basics and practicing our putting and our drives,” Branon said. “I think we’ve practiced a lot more and going out on the course to.”
And the move from Ridgemark Golf and Country Club to San Juan Oaks Golf Club played a part in that development, Lexi Branon said.
“We are less used to it,” Branon said. “We have to think like the other teams would have to if they are playing for the first time.”
The Balers host their final match of the season Oct. 17 against Pacific Grove. The girls tee of at 3 p.m.
