[Photo] Vista Murrieta’s Lauren Sammon watches her ball in flight during the final round of the Southwestern League girls’ golf championship at Hemet Golf Club. Valley News/Andrez Imaging
HEMET – Records are meant to be broken and that’s exactly what Vista Murrieta junior Lauren Sammon did Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Southwestern League girls’ golf finals. Already holding a seven-shot lead after an opening round 68 (-3), Sammon became the second girls’ golfer from her school to win back-to-back Southwestern League titles with a second round 65 (-6).
The junior champion from Vista Murrieta also set a new course record and a two-day total of 133 (-9) which is believed to be a league record. Tisha Abrea was the other to accomplish the back-to-back feat in ‘09-’10 before moving on and playing at Cal State Fullerton. That round is also a personal best for Sammon.
Sammon’s day started with five consecutive pars before she broke through for a birdie at the 294-yard par four sixth hole with an up and down from about 30 yards out. At hole eight she nearly drove the green but a disappointing pitch left her a fifteen-foot birdie putt which she calmly rolled into the center of the hole to turn in -2 (33).
At the par five tenth hole Sammon reached the green in two and used two putts from sixty feet to make her third birdie. She added three straight birdies from holes fifteen through seventeen to finish the scoring. At the sixteenth hole she drove the green and had an eleven-foot eagle putt. On the par three seventeenth hole she stuck her tee shot on the 144-yard par 3 to about two feet. Preceding those birdies was another one at fifteen where she missed the green just to the right of the tee and got up and down, rolling in a putt from six feet.
“I was more confident in my putting today and wanted to see how low I could go from the longer distance,” Sammon said. “It’s special to be able to join Tisha on that list of back-to-back Bronco league champions and set records because these are the kinds of things I set my mind on when I came to Vista Murrieta.”
Starting the day there was a tie for the final spot to advance to next Tuesday’s CIF-SS Southern Region Individual Qualifier at Los Serranos in Chino Hills. A tiebreaker was not necessary however as Great Oak’s Madison Murakami shot 86-94=180 (+38) and advanced by two shots over teammate Kimiko Carpenter who shot rounds of 94-88=182 (+40).
It was a historic day for Chaparral who got two players to extend their season. Jaclyn Jaques (82-91=173 +31) and Krissy Dinsenbacher (88-89=177 +25) qualified to play in the Tuesday qualifier next week for the first time since at least 2010.
Lady Pumas coach Kyle Warren said, “We get girls with limited to no experience and have been really focusing on their ability to score. You can hit range balls all day but it’s about putting a number on a scorecard, and they’ve come a long way in that regard.”
First Team Southwestern League Leaderboard:
- Lauren Sammon (VM) 68-65=133 (-9)
- Brooke Carpenter (GO) 75-81=156 (+14)
- Kimi Arabe (TV) 80-85=165 (+23)
- Kylee Rainosek (MV) 83-85=168 (+27)
- Jaclyn Jaques (Chap) 82-91=173 (+31)
- Kahlea Manalang (VM) 88-87=175 +33)
- Krissy Dinsenbacher (Chap) 88-89=177 (+32)
- Gwyneth Dempsey (GO) 83-95=178 (+33)
- Madison Murakami (GO) 86-94=180 (+35)
- Kimiko Carpenter (GO) 88=94=180 (+38)
The top nine advance to the CIF-SS Southern Region individual qualifier at Los Serranos South in Chino Hills Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Derryl Trujillo has been a local sportswriter since 2018 and is the 2019 IEBCA Supporter of the Year. He can be reached via email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
