Wind socks it to locals
Golfers bring New Mexican flair to competition but falter, in danger of missing cut
While her fashion sense was comin’ in hot with A-level footwear for the opening round, so much of Chanet Fiorina-Trujillo’s trek down the 13th fairway at Las Campanas on Tuesday mirrored the kind of afternoon she and her teammates had at the start of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship.
The three-day tournament got underway Tuesday morning with fair conditions for the 144 players from 48 states. By the time FiorinaTrujillo and the rest of her New Mexico teammates reached the back nine, the warmer weather produced a steady wind that blew in at an angle when Fiorina-Trujillo teed it up on the par-3.
Standing between her and the green was nothing but water. A 140-yard hole that’s actually No. 4 on the course — Team New Mexico began its opening round on No. 10 — it is easily one of the most picturesque and equally intimidating tracts at the perfectly manicured club.
“That’s where it all just kind of came apart for me,” FiorinaTrujillo said.
It was part of a five-hole stretch where she went from 1 over through 11 to plus 13 by the time she headed to No. 17.
She finished her day at 14-over. Combined with teammate Jacquelyn Gassoway’s 5 over 77, Team New Mexico sits well off the cut line in a tie for 32nd place. Only the top two scores from the three-
player squad are counted toward the team total. New Mexico’s 19 over 163 is 21 shots behind leader New York.
Arizona is second at 1-over, followed by North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida in a three-way tie for third at 2 over.
The field is cut to the top 21 teams (and ties) after Wednesday’s second round, one in which the conditions are supposed to be so much worse than those that made things un-New Mexico-like when the final players walked off the course Tuesday.
“It’s actually not all that bad,” said Indiana’s Julia Potter. “They told us it rains about 10 times a year around here and we’re probably going to see two of them, which is fine with me.”
Potter sits alone in second place after carding a 2 under 70. She is one of four players to break par, led by Tennessee’s Riley Rennell at 4 under 68.
Potter was originally listed at 5-under, including an eagle on a par-4 on the front nine. It turned out to be a scoring error.
“That’s funny because, no, I did not hole out from 150 yards,” she said.
She did, however, have five birdies. Riley had seven of her own, which included her sizzling 4 under 32 on what was the backnine for her. Even more impressive is that Indiana and Tennessee, as well as team-leader New York, were all on the course when the conditions were at their worst.
As for Fiorina-Trujillo, her first ace of the day was her choice in footwear. She purchased special New Mexico-themed socks for her, Galloway and Samantha Surette. The shin-high tubes were charcoal with red and yellow Zia symbols. The former Santa Fe High star also wore metallic gold high-top spikeless golf shoes she bought online.
“I kind of like ’em,” said Galloway, the 17-year-old high school student from Rio Rancho who is tied for 39th overall. “Chanet had the look.”
Galloway started her day with a double-bogey and was 4-over through her first six holes, but she settled down from that point forward by playing the final 14 holes at just 1-over.
Fiorina-Trujillo vowed to come out stronger Wednesday and
rival the 74 she shot at Las Campanas during the recent city tournament. She was well on her way until she found the trap on 12 and bogeyed. That was followed by two straight shots into the water on 13, the first coming off the tee and the second on a drop about 50 yards to her left.
She followed that with a second drop that found the rough above the green to the left, then an approach that sailed past the green and into the bunker.
“I went into a spin there and had a hard time getting out,” she said.
Her caddy was her newlywed husband Eric Trujillo. As Fiorina-Trujillo made her way up the fairway on the next hole — which she double-bogeyed — he stopped and gave her a hug.
“He knew what I was going through and was trying to settle me down,” she said. “Once those things start it’s hard to stop.”
She eventually did, but during that same stretch Surette was having her own problems. She posted a 10 earlier in the round and then opened a tough backnine with a triple-bogey 7 on No. 10. She carded a 45 on the back
and finished at 18-over 90.
That back nine saw New Mexico’s deficit to New York go from a mere 11 at one point to the 21 it wound up being. New Mexico dropped from 18th to 32. At present, they need to make up no fewer than eight strokes to avoid missing the cut.
“[Wednesday] will be better because I’m more of a morning person anyway,” Fiorina-Trujillo said. “We started later [Tuesday] and I’m already starting to feel it. That’s the good thing about golf. You can always come back tomorrow.”