Beckman's Park earns a spot in state tournament

MURRIETA - Kaitlin Park's nerves were starting to get the best of her, her hands shaking every time she stood over a putt at the SCGA Members Course. 

The Beckman sophomore knew she had a good round going, one that just might deliver a WSCGA Southern California Championship. She finished 4-under on the back nine, and that put her among an elite group because the greens were rolled just before the start of Monday's state championship qualifying tournament.

Putting on this day was more a game of chance than skill. Downhill putts had almost no chance of finding the bottom of the cup. 

Park said she played this course a couple of times, and she said she took plenty of notes on how each green played, so she was able to cope with the difficult conditions better than most. But shat she didn't account for was the pressure from playing in such a prestigious high school event. That's where the nerves came in.

Yet she still managed to always keep herself in a position to win, and if she would have only been able to roll in her four-foot putt on the 12th green, she just might have become the second Orange County player in as many years to finish first in this prestigious tournament. But on this afternoon, she had to settle for a tie for second with Hana Lee from Wilson/Hacienda Heights. Both players carded a 3-under 69.

"It was hard (playing through the nerves). When I knew that I had to hit my driver far ... and I was shaking, I was like, "No. I can't do this," Park said. "I really wanted to make it ... for my parents. Anxiety is fine. Fear is not."

Park was one of only six individuals to earn a spot in Thursday's CIF State Girls Golf Championship at Poppy Hills. She's the only OC player who will tee off in Pebble Beach, and one of only four golfers in the 124-player field to break par. Cathedral Catholic's Devon Brown won the WSCGA tournament with her 4-under 68. Park and Lee followed with their 69s and then Rachel Morris finished fourth with a 71.

University's Ani Gulugian and Canyon freshman Jessica Vasilic, who both topped the leaderboard in the opening rounds of the CIF playoffs, both missed the cut for state by one stroke, each finishing with 2-over 74s.

Both players, though, were at 1-over at one time during their rounds and on pace to make it to Pebble Beach. Vasilic made it to 1-over when she holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 11th after crushing a 275-yard drive that left her with an easy 73-yard wedge to the green. On the 12th, she nailed another drive that flirted with 300 yards, only it rolled through the fairway and rough, coming to rest in the dirt next to the cart path. Her approach rolled off the green coming to rest in the rough, and she ended up bogeying the hole.

"My ball stopped next to a rock, and I didn't want to move it because I thought my ball would move," Vasilic said. "It was so frustrating. You couldn't get the ball to go into the hole. Every birdie putt was two inches to the right ... two inches to the left."  

Gulugian went through a bit of a rough stretch during the middle or her round, too, during which she put a shot into a water hazard. And with three holes remaining, she was at 4-over. But she finished her round birdie, birdie, par to post her 74. 

"I was hitting the really well. I just couldn't get it to spin, so it was really hard for me to judge my distances because if I hit something that wasn't enough, it wouldn't get there. But if I hit something that I though was right, it just rolled past the hole," Gulugian said. "The greens were really fast and the wind drying them out didn't help."

SCORES FOR THE COUNTY PLAYERS IN THE FIELD

Kaitlin Park (Beckman), 69; Ani Gulugian (University) 74, Jessica Vasilic (Canyon) 74, Elisabeth Bernabe (Canyon) 75, Esther Lee (Los Alamitos) 75, Victoria Nguyen (Mater Dei) 75, Tracey Kim (Northwood) 79, Kristina Nhim (Cypress) 81, Annie Downey (Mission Viejo) 85, Amy Lee (Irvine) 86, Ashley Greer (Marina) 87