Song shoots even-par to win medalist in 5th meet

Girls golf: West Ranch takes team title in league event

Valencia girls golf’s Ashley Song shot evenpar on Tuesday to win the fifth Foothill League meet of the season at The Oaks Club at Valencia.

Song was only slightly familiar with the course, but the Vikings were able to play a practice round at The Oaks Club on Saturday to help her prepare.

“There’s a lot of doglegs, so you have to be able to hit specific distances and the greens are a lot faster than what I’m used to, so that took some adjusting,” Song said.

Song usually is challenged by the third hole, almost always losing a ball, but on Tuesday, she was able to birdie.

“I talked to my coach and some of the other teammates before and asked, ‘Where should I aim on this hole? What’s the approach for the next shot?’ and I think that definitely helped a lot rather than going in blind,” she said.

Song’s score puts her ahead of the competition in the Foothill League individual standings. She is in first place with a 36.5 average, while fellow Viking Sung Park is next at 38.5.

West Ranch won as a team in Foothill League meet No. 5 with a score of 219. Hart came in second at 230, followed by Valencia at 231. Saugus was fourth at 251 and Golden Valley and Canyon rounded out the finishers with scores of 256 and 322, respectively.

The Wildcats are in first in the overall Foothill League team standings at 854. The Vikings are close behind at 859.

“It’s in the back of my mind that we would love to win, but we’re trying not to let it interfere with our focus the course,” Song said of winning the Foothill League team title.

Foothill League girls golf play concludes today. The top three teams in the overall standings move on to the postseason and the top six

individuals will advance.

Song said that most golfers are used to back-toback rounds because of competing in tournaments, but playing nine holes instead of 18 can also complicate things.

“I tend to do better on the back nine because I’m able to recover after the first nine holes of getting used to the course,” Song said. “So league is a little different. I have to adjust and make sure I’m putting my full effort into every hole because there’s not much room to make mistakes.”

The final round of the league season tees off at 1:30 p.m. at The Oaks Club today.