Tough conditions take toll on Yorba Linda
DIAMOND BAR – The dark-brown spots creeping onto the greens were a sign that playing conditions might be a bit tougher than normal at Diamond Bar Golf Club.
The September heat wave was helping to dry out the putting surface, making it hard and fast. Sometimes, even a perfect tee shot on the par-3 ninth, released into the rough on the back of the green.
“The conditions were really hard today. As soon as you hit it onto the green, it would go 40 feet past were you hit it,” Yorba Linda sophomore Brooke Graebe said. “You hit the green and it took right off, and they weren’t rolling very true, either. It’s a tough course.”
But that didn’t stop her from posting one of the lowest scores in Monday’s nonleague match against Diamond Bar.
Graebe and Britney Sok both posted a 3-over-par 39 to lead the Mustangs. But Bethany Wu also shot a 39 for Diamond Bar, and the Brahmas edged No. 3 Yorba Linda, 210-218.
This was the eighth time in 11 matches that Graebe has had at least a share of the medalist honors for Yorba Linda (8-3). Her cumulative score in those eight matches in 4-under-par, which includes a 3-under-par 33 at Black Gold.
The Mustangs didn’t play as well as Yorba Linda coach Dennis Riggs thought they would on Monday as he was expecting a 210 out of his team.
“But the rest of the year, we have been playing really well, right around 204,” Riggs said.
The Mustangs scoring average through 11 matches is 208.5. The 218 was the Mustangs’ highest score of the season as they lost for just the third time in 11 matches. To put that in perspective though, they got beat twice in a span of five days by the No. 1 team in the county – Troy. And in one of those matches, the Warriors shot a school record for a nine-hole match on a par-36 course.
Riggs said he made it a point to schedule some tough opponents such as the Warriors and Brahmas, so his team can get better.
“We are having a great year. We are all really close to each other,” Graebe said, “and it’s nice being close to my teammates.”
