Beckman remains undefeated
TUSTIN – Pay no attention to what Kaitlin Park has been doing this month. Golf, at times, can be a difficult and frustrating sport.
Lately, though, the Beckman senior is making it look too easy.
Even though she had to play the back nine at Tustin Ranch Golf Club from the men’s tees (the women’s tees were closed), which added 400 yards to her round, she still finished in the 30s for the 11th consecutive time this season to lead the No. 5 Patriots to a 212-231 Pacific Coast League victory against University on Tuesday.
“I am not noticing the low scores,” Park said. “People keep coming up to me and telling me about them, though.”
After shooting a 1-over-par 37 on Tuesday for the Patriots (12-0, 5-0), Park is 17-under-par through her first 11 matches this season, and that includes a pair of 32s. Her worst round is a 38.
“I came in with a lot of confidence this season because I had a pretty good record this past summer,” Park said. “I have changed the way I practiced and I had so many new experiences that I am different now.”
Her approach the game changed when she got to meet Annika Sorenstam, a World Golf Hall of Famer, in February. Because of the advice she got from her new-found mentor that day, Park said, she began to focus on her short game. And after that, she won two AJGA tournaments and finished second in another. She’s also earned a spot in the prestigious PING Invitational next month in Stillwater, Okla.
“Knowing that you can count on her … when she shoots a 32, that’s 10 strokes better that the other team’s best player,” Beckman coach Penn Bushong said. “And she just keeps getting better.”
But there’s more to Beckman’s success this season than Park. Bushong said he added freshman Marisa Bhanubandh to the varsity roster this year, and she has “given us a fifth good score.” She usually finishes her nine-hole round between 39-41, Bushong said.
“We never had a fifth girl, and all of a sudden Marisa comes along and gives us a legitimate fifth score,” he said. “But we didn’t expect to do this.”
The Patriots are averaging 207.6 at their home course, Tustin Ranch, breaking 210 in four of the six matches that they have played there.
- “This is amazing,” Park said. “I am so glad and so happy that we can carry the whole team and move on and do well in league.
