Vaqs take first again

On the road to winning the Western State Conference championship last season, the members of the Glendale Community College women’s golf team struggled during their one appearance at Santa Barbara Golf Course.

That wasn’t forgotten by coach Greg Osbourne and the returning players, who came back Monday to the ocean side property looking for a better fate.

Glendale college bounced back to record a 315 en route to winning Monday’s conference match.

“We haven’t seemed to have done well here for some reason,” said Osbourne, whose team edged College of the Canyons by seven strokes. “We also weren’t able to get in a practice round because last week was our first week of classes.

“There are a lot of trees on the course, which is a lot longer than it looks at first. If you don’t hit the ball straight, then it will either bounce off the trees or into the rough.”

Glendale finished second in last season’s match behind Canyons by four strokes.

The Vaqueros, who finished second at the California Community College Athletic Assn. Women’s Golf Championship after winning the Southern California Regionals last season, have won both conference matches this season. Bakersfield shot a 347 on Monday to place third, followed by Santa Barbara (356) and Citrus (432).

Sophomore Pattraporn Silawanna, who captured the conference’s individual championship last season, led the Vaqueros with a four-over-par 76. Sophomores Vicanda Ma and Thanawan Sriratchaya shot a 77 and 80, respectively, for the Vaqueros. Freshman Fanny Ostlund had an 82 for Glendale.

“Pattraporn did well for us again,” Osbourne. “Then you had Fanny go out there, and she’d never played the course before.

“We have to keep going out there and be able to keep shaving off shots. We have to continue being able to get up and down on the courses we play. I think we have a team that’s coming together and they take pride in what they do.”

The Vaqueros will next participate in another conference match at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 19 at San Dimas Country Club.