The girls’ golf team remains undefeated this year after winning all 13 of their matches and winning the El Camino League Championship, according to Athletics Director and girls’ golf varsity head coach Joanna Butcher.
The girls’ golf team went on to place second place at the Los Altos Tournament, Butcher said.
“We were able to place sixth place out of 12 teams at CCS,” Senior Kayla Sung said.
The team was able to improve their standings from last year with the addition of new players, Butcher said.
“We have two extremely talented freshmen, one of which, Madalynn Le, is third in the league out of 109 golfers,” she said. “Pall Shingala is 12th in the league overall as a ninth grader.”
Other player accomplishments include sophomore Courtney Pham at 26th overall, sophomore Gabby Tong at 35th overall, and senior Kayla Sung at 41st overall in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Butcher added.
“It was kind of drastic (change) from last year; we lost all of our matches,” Sung said. “This year, when she called out the scores at the end – Milpitas High School had won – it was very exciting because we had never heard that before.”
Butcher credits the success of the girls’ golf team to the recruitment efforts by seniors Kayla Sung and Isabelle Cho, she said.
“Having the team finally be formed and seeing how successful we are this season really is something I’m very proud about because our hard work paid off,” Sung said.
To help players prepare mentally before matches, players do yoga in addition to their normal practices, Butcher said. Golf relies more on the mental aspect than the physical, so she focuses on confidence-building exercises and bonding activities to keep the players motivated for the match, she added.
“Ms. Butcher will ask you to set a goal for yourself, like focusing on one thing you want to accomplish,” Sung said. “Even if you don’t play well, as long as you accomplish your goal, you should feel proud of yourself. I think that’s helped a lot.”
The golf team is diverse as it includes both experienced and new players, Butcher said. Some players play outside the school team whereas others play mostly recreationally, she added.
“I’ve been playing golf basically my whole life,” Sung said. “What inspired me to join the team was mostly my older brother. He had joined the team previously, and I had actually known some of the people on the team already. So I knew what the environment was like, and I was familiar with people.”
As an individual sport, golf is a sport that players can play for the rest of their lives, Butcher said. One of her goals is to make sure the players have fun, make memories, and keep playing golf, she added.
“I hope that for next year as well, the legacy continues on,” Cho said. “Some of our best players are sophomores and freshmen and so I feel like, as each year goes on, we’ll hopefully continue to win more in big league champion games and just continue to create that strong team.”