Girls’ golf co-captain and juniors Zoe Wynn and Emmie Ding won the Pacific Coast League’s MVP and made league First Team, respectively, with both advancing to CIF Individual Championships after PCL finals on Oct. 18-19. The match took place at the Costa Mesa golf course. Wynn will compete in CIF Finals on Nov. 2.
Despite a turbulent season following the departures of two players, the team maintained its place in Division 1 and went under 200 strokes in total at Strawberry Farms during a match against University High, according to Ding. Freshman Moer Koey credited this tenacity to team spirit as well as girls’ head golf coach and social studies teacher Wind Ralston.
“We had a lot of moments where we conversed as a team,” Koey said. “It’s more a one person game than as a team, but I would say advice from our teammates definitely helped a lot for us. Also, Coach Ralston gives us a lot of helpful advice, practices and drills for us to improve in our matches.”
Wynn made a birdie at the fifth hole in the Oct. 18 round, scoring under par and bolstering her score of 71, which enabled her to win fifth place. For Wynn, acting on her coaches’ feedback was key to her success during this match.
“I was hitting a little bit off so I went to my coach and I found out my setup was kind of bad,” Wynn said. “So I was focusing a lot on my irons. Making sure I hit straight and making sure that I pay attention to all the little things I feel like actually really make a difference.”
During that round, Ding was also able to score one under par and secure a score of 69, landing her in third place. Ding and Wynn each practiced their own pregame strategies before league finals, according to Ralston.
“They go to their swing coaches to make sure they’re all dialed in on what they should be doing,” Ralston said. “And once they get here, they just kind of go through their routines. Zoe has a putting routine that she does, and Emmie has a pretty solid routine on the driving range.”
However, playing well during practice does not necessarily translate to playing well in a high-stakes match, according to Ralston. He assigned different players to starter positions for different matches throughout the season depending on the team’s performance.
“[Golf is] based on numbers, honestly, and a lot of our scores also are based on giving some of these freshmen time to play,” Ralston said. “I wanted to get them used to playing in pressure situations, which is a match.”
