Three on the Greens

Palisades High golf coach Dave Suarez knows all too well how unpredictable the City Finals can be. In the spring his boys team was the overwhelming favorite but wound up finishing second to Granada Hills.

Last Wednesday, the girls team was shooting for its third straight title and junior phenom Anna Song made sure the Dolphins would secure it.

She carved up the Par 73 layout at Balboa Golf Course, finishing with a five-under par 68—one stroke off her finals record of 67 last year—to repeat as the individual champion. No other player reached red numbers.

The only drama she faced occurred before her round. Upon discovering the driving range at Balboa did not open until 9 a.m.—her scheduled tee time—Song and her teammates drove to nearby Woodley Lakes to warm up but she only got to hit about a dozen balls before having to return to Balboa and she made it back with four minutes to spare.

Song, who was a captain’s pick by Palisades High alum Amy Alcott to represent Team USA in the Junior Solheim Cup in Spain in September, birdied the seconf, fourth and fifth holes on the front nine and added back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 to go along with 13 pars. She had a chance to tie the six-under she carded at last year’s final but her seven-foot birdie putt on the 18th green rolled to a stop inches right off the cup and she tapped in to complete a bogey-free day.

To say Song is comfortable at Balboa is an understatement. She fired a personal-best 64 there two weeks earlier at league finals and was 10-under through 12 holes in a practice round before having to leave early to study for two AP tests the next morning.

“I was hoping to do as good as I did at league finals, but they rolled the greens this morning so it was a bit trickier,” said Song, an early commit to Stanford who is still five months away from her 17th birthday. “My putter was cold today, unlike the weather, but my shorter irons gave me a few more opportunities. For the most part, I liked the pin locations.”

Song became the sixth player in the 24-year history of the tournament to win back-to-back titles and next year will try to join Tiffany Yau from Van Nuys (2011-13) as the only three-time winners. She will also attempt to break Yau’s record for margin of victory (11), having won by eight strokes last fall and seven this year. Momoka Takahashi of Cleveland was second at +2 and Mackenzie Park of Marshall was third at +3.

Palisades cruised to the team title by a whopping 88 strokes over runner-up Granada Hills. The Dolphins took first place with a cumulative score of 49 over par. Granada Hills (+137) was second and Cleveland (+167) was third. All six Dolphins placed among the top 15. Katie Kim and Maya Otero tied for fourth at +11, Dylan Nuss was sixth at +12, Skylar Monahan tied for 12th at +20 and Chloe Suh was 15th, though only the five best scores are counted towards the team total.

“I’m very proud of this group,” Suarez said. “The girls have grown together and are now reaping the benefits of their hard work throughout the season. To win by that much is a testament to our depth.”

*** click on any photo below to view slide show ***