On a warm weekend, the Regals golf team traveled to Lompoc, where they faced a grueling golf course.

On Saturday, freshmen Danika Cochiolo and McKay Weiler finished with the best scores on the day.  Cochiolo shot a 94, while Weiler recorded a team low of 91.

“The match on Saturday was a learning lesson for all of us,” said Weiler, who finished 12th overall on the weekend.  “We were able to see our mistakes and do our best to fix them during our round on Sunday, which did help half of our players to improve their scores on the second day of match play.”

The course itself proved to be a formidable opponent for the Regals, as the rest of the team was unable to score in the double digit range.

“Because of the difficulty of the course, 33rd most difficult course in the country, I was proud that the team just went out there and did the best that they could,” said Weiler.  This golf course showed us some of the flaws in our game.  We all have more things to work on before our next tournament in Tennessee and the SCIAC championships. But we are all ready to work hard and do our best to keep improving and play to our full potential to finish our season.”

Sunday’s match played out much better for some of the Regals, as they proved they had learned from their trials on Saturday.
Cochiolo again recorded a 94, the lowest of the team on Sunday.

Freshman Devon Meredith reduced her Saturday score by seven strokes and finished Sunday with a score of 99.

Junior teammate Emily Bullen nearly replicated the feat by reducing her Saturday score by six strokes to finish with a final of 108.

“In team score total, today was a few strokes worse than yesterday. Individually, three people improved their score, which was the goal of everyone going into the tournament due to the challenge of La Purisma golf course,” said Bullen.

The Regals brought in a score of 387 on Saturday and tallied a 391 score on Sunday, earning them a third place finish.

“With the slope difference, harsh winds and national ranking of how hard this golf course is in the entire country, we set the goal of a team cumulative of 360, which we almost achieved,” said Bullen.

The Regals’ attitudes remain positive knowing that they nearly met the standards they set for themselves. They now turn their attention to cleaning up small mistakes that this weekend’s tournament exposed.

“For improvements, the team needs to focus on practicing the challenging and awkward yardage shots that we are not comfortable with,” said Bullen.  “By focusing on our weaknesses, I’m sure we will be able to break our own record regularly.”

The Regals will head to Memphis, Tenn. on April 16 where they will take part in the Rhodes Invitational.

Jase Magarifuji
Staff Writer
Published April 10, 2013