The Wilcox Chargers golf team held their own on Tuesday afternoon as the rain in the forecast held off just enough to allow them to face off against Los Altos. Unfortunately for Chargers fans, the squad wasn’t able to catch the soaring Eagles, who ended up winning the final team score by 29 strokes, 248-219.
Playing at Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, the two schools played the front nine holes just before a downpour arrived. The wind ahead of the rain and the threat of rain did make the conditions significantly tougher for the golfers.
“It was definitely windier today than expected,” said Chargers sophomore Anika Yadav, who led the way for the Chargers by shooting a 42, seven over par. “And it just started raining at the very end, but it wasn’t too bad.”
Yadav came out of the gates strong with back-to-back pars on the first two holes and was double-bogey free until the ninth hole. A tee shot into the trees on the par four ninth hole set up a second shot that Yadav tried to go through a sliver of a window to get to the green directly but the ball hit a branch and got knocked down after just 20 yards.
“I thought I could get it through the trees, but it didn’t happen,” acknowledged Yadav. “I should have played it safer.”
Yadav played this match alongside teammate Juliana Ko, and the junior twice showed strong resiliency. On the par four second hole Ko fought her way out of the trees and landed her fourth shot with a beautiful chip from about 50 yards away that landed and stopped about 10 feet from the pin. Ko would just barely miss the putt, but it was an impressive recovery to double bogey the hole. On the sixth hole, Ko ended up with a quadruple bogey, looking visibly frustrated with her wedge shots. However, Ko rebounded to bogey, par and bogey the final three holes. She would finish with a 48, thirteen over par.
“When I was really young I struggled the whole rest of the round because of that one hole,” admitted Ko. “These days when I have a hole like that, I’m just trying to refocus and think positively.”
“If you dwell on the one bad hole, you are going to go three or four holes that way,” remarked Wilcox Head Coach Jerry Scott on Ko’s ability to keep focused. “The whole round can be squandered because of one hole.”
Rounding out the roster competing for the Chargers this year are Anika Bose, Jessica Gutierrez and Adrianna Lee. The team of five will look to get their revenge on their rival Santa Clara Bruins next week. Santa Clara beat Wilcox earlier in the season. That match will take place at Sunken Gardens in Sunnyvale, a much shorter par-3 course. With only two par fours and no par fives, whoever can bring the better short game will almost certainly come away with the victory.