Sierra Pilgrim and the Wildcat Girls Golf Team ended another fantastic season of golf on Monday at the Valley Golf Championship at River Island Country Club in Porterville.  We had a great run this year, with Ms. Pilgrim earning a spot at the Area and Valley matches, and a whole team of enthusiastic young ladies falling in love with the game of golf.  Both I and coach Charlotte Kidd consider this year to be a complete success, and we look forward to next season with this great group of girls.

Monday was a tough day for Pilgrim, who carded a 98 on the difficult River Island course.  She started strong, on hole 15, with two pars and three bogeys on her first five holes.  She followed that strong start with two double-bogeys, but bounced back with a couple bogeys on holes four and five.  The highlight of her round came on hole six, with a fantastic, downhill birdie putt from the fringe behind the green on the long par-5.  That put Pilgrim at 8-over through nine holes.  Then, the pressure of the Valley Championship, the difficulty of the golf course, the realization that she was in a good position to move on to the Southern California Regional Championship, and an untrustworthy putter all conspired against her.  After a four-putt on the par three seventh, Sierra lost control of her game, but not her composure.  She struggled with the putter for the remainder of the round and came in, still smiling, at 18-over on her second nine.  As I followed her around the golf course, coaching her between holes, coaches and spectators alike commented on Sierra’s positive demeanor in the face of frustration and disappointment.

As it turns out, Sierra really was in a great position to qualify for the Southern California Championship after 9-holes.  She was only one shot off the pace of Stockdale High’s Bethany Anderson, whose 87 was the highest qualifying score.  Sierra’s 98 came in right around the middle of the pack of 88 golfers, with the average score for the tournament just over 95.  Winning the Championship individually was our good friend and competitor Madi Daniel of BCHS, who fired a smooth 3-under 69 to take the medalist position by two shots over a couple players from the Clovis area.  We couldn’t be happier for Ms. Daniel, who will officially become an Oregon Duck on November 8th.  We wish her the best of luck as she begins her PAC-12 golf career!