Girls golf drives forward to CIFs

On Wednesday Oct. 18, 2017, three varsity Samo girls golf players competed in the infamous girls golf CIFs at Harding Golf Course in Griffith Park. Sarah Ogata (’20), Molly Sadler (’19) and Emily Goldman (’18) all traveled to the course at 6:30 a.m. to attend the competition and represent themselves individually at the matches. CIFs is a completely different competition and experience for the players compared to high school matches. First off, the contestants are playing independently, not the usual scenario of high school vs high school, so Ogata, Sadler and Goldman were rivals during the match. Also, the course is longer and the matches are highly regulated; instead of the usual nine hole games of high school level matches, CIFs is 18 holes. The longer course entails the competition lasting around six-seven hours of standing under the striking sun compared to the usual three hour matches. In addition, participating in the competition is especially impressive because a player must be invited to attend. Competitors qualify for invitation if they have a low enough average score from the previous season of high school competitions. Thus, invitations are open to a multitude of girls throughout the area and in the league. This year was Sadler’s first time participating in golf CIFs. She had a score of 92:49 on the front nine holes and 43 on the back nine holes. She impressively improved her performance as the match prolonged and as she became more comfortable and acquainted with the intensity of the ambitious atmosphere. Sadler tremendously enjoyed the experience and is hoping to compete next year. Now that she knows what to expect in the competition, she can plan on how to prepare for next year.“I will work towards improving my technique, especially in putting and chipping,” Sadler said.As a CIF veteran, Goldman is experienced in this specific competition, as this was her third year competing. “The first year was very intimidating and difficult because I had never played in a tournament and everyone at CIFs is very experienced with tournaments. The second year was my strongest; I had more time to practice and I was feeling confident with my scores from the season. This year was similar to last year, however due to all the responsibilities of a first semester senior, I had much less time to practice,” Goldman said.Ogata is also a seasoned participant in Girls’ Golf CIF and has significantly decreased her score from last year. With hard work and determination, she managed to lower her score by 10 points.“For me, it was a lot of fun because I made a lot of friends on the other teams during the other matches we had throughout the season, and CIFs was basically just a culminating event for me to interact and enjoy the sport with my friends,” Ogata said.