GCC golf dominates competition
Winning the Western State Conference Tournament wasn’t a shock for the Glendale Community College women’s golf team. The amount of strokes the Vaqueros won by turned out to be a surprise, though.
“I am surprised to win by that much, but we’ve been getting better each week,” Glendale college Coach Greg Osbourne said after the Vaqueros shot a 327 and won the two-day tournament by a whopping 42 strokes on Monday. “We couldn’t have picked a better time to be playing our best golf.
“It’s very satisfying to win the conference tournament again after winning conference for a second straight year.”
The Vaqueros began the tournament Sunday, shooting a 310 at Sundale Country Club in Bakersfield. After building a 34-stroke advantage over rival College of the Canyons, the event shifted Monday to Kern River Country Club in Bakersfield, where Glendale shot a 327 to finish with a two-round total of 637. Canyons had a 344 on Sunday and registered a 335 on Monday for 679.
Glendale and Canyons will next participate in the six-team Southern California Regionals, which will be held at 8 a.m. Nov. 5-6 at San Luis Rey Downs Country Club in Bonsall. The top two teams from the Southern California Regionals, which the Vaqueros won last season, advance to the state tournament Nov. 12-13 in Temecula.
Glendale’s Pattraporn Silawanna won the conference’s individual championship for the second season in a row. Silawanna opened with an even-par 73 on Sunday and recorded a six-over-par 79 on Monday to finish with a 153. Silawanna finished with a 153, edging Kris Grimes of Canyons by six strokes. Grimes was tabbed the conference’s player of the year.
Winning the conference championship again pleased Silawanna.
“This one is the better of the two,” Silawanna said. “I got off to a good start Sunday and held my own.
“We feel like we are playing better going into regionals.”
Osbourne, whose team finished runner up at the state tournament last season, said winning another individual championship was a goal for Silawanna.
“She knew going into the season that she could do it again,” said Osbourne, whose team wrapped up its second conference team championship in a row Oct. 22 in Moorpark. “You could see her game getting better each match.”
Sriratchaya had a 78 on Sunday and followed up with a 78 on Monday for a two-round score of 158. Vicanda Ma had an 82 and 84 for 162, followed by Jasmine Daniel (81 and 83 for 164) and Fanny Ostlund (82 and 89 for 171).
Osbourne was named the conference’s coach of the year. Silawanna, Sriratchaya, Ma, Daniel and Ostlund earned all-conference accolades.
Santa Barbara finished third with a 729, followed by Bakersfield (754) and Citrus (834).
