A long shot: After losing a star player, girls’ golf has tougher time securing wins

Senior Carine Chan in position to swing her golf club during practice on Oct. 19.

Due to a heavy workload, junior Sarah Lim, one of the team's top players, modified her participation in team practices and games mid-season.

Earlier this year No. 2 player junior Sarah Lim made the difficult choice to scale back her participation in the golf team’s practices and matches. This is one reason, among others, that the team has lost more matches this year. Due to a heavy junior year workload, Lim — after thoroughly discussing with her parents and head coach Dave Gragnola — decided to only attend occasional practices with the team and play seven of the 12 total matches.

“Because school golf is right in the beginning of the semester, it’s difficult to find your way through,” Lim said. “And you’ll also be missing a lot of classes because you have to leave school pretty early for matches. It’s just tough, especially with the academic rigor.”

Additionally, Lim, who also plays competitive golf outside of school, already practices individually for six to seven days a week, which makes it difficult to balance her time between school and individual golf.

Lim played in the final match of the season on Oct. 16, which the team won 229-244 vs. Los Gatos at the Saratoga Country Club. However, she didn’t attend the two previous matches on Oct. 11 against Palo Alto and Oct. 5 against Monta Vista, which both took place at the Baylands Golf Course; the results were 252-219 and 236-225 losses, respectively. Though the loss to Palo Alto was anticipated, as the Vikings are one of the top teams in the league, the loss to Monta Vista was disappointing. The Falcons, with a record of 5-7, finished in third in the De Anza division.

Though the team was disappointed to see such a talented golfer participate less, they supported her choice. Additionally, Lim feels that modifying her playing and practice time was the right decision, though she does feel slightly disconnected from the two new players, sophomore Arista Survana and freshman Jaqueline Chico, compared to the rest of the team.

No. 1 player sophomore Millie Wang, Lim, No. 3 player junior Eunice Ching, No. 4 player sophomore Stella Cho and No. 5 player Lydia Li are set to play in the league finals on Oct. 25 at Santa Teresa.