TEMECULA — No warmup. Ordinarily that circumstance would deter most players, but not Beaumont freshman Maleah Clark.
Due to a miscommunication regarding tee times, Clark showed up 40 minutes late to Temecula Creek Golf Course for the 8 a.m. shotgun start for Thursday’s CIF Southern Section individual championships. Without warmup she made four birdies against three bogeys to post a 1-under-par 71, punching her ticket to next week’s CIF/SCPGA regional final at Los Serranos Country Club’s North Course in Chino Hills.
In total, seven of the 14 Inland area golfers who teed it up advanced to next week’s regional final, including Vista Murrieta’s Fay Jia (Southwestern League champion) and Breanna Noble (T7, 70), regaining IE Varsity Golfer of the Year Juliet Oh of Diamond Bar (T11, 71), Palomares League champion Kristina Xu (T14, 72), Ayala’s Madison Soong (T20, 73), and Baseline League champion Emily Zhang of Rancho Cucamonga (T20, 73).
Santa Margarita freshman Sam Daniels finished with three straight birdies to shoot a women’s course record 64 (8 under par) on the Oaks/Creek composite course and prevailed over Orange Lutheran’s Jude Lee .
“I struck the ball really well today and gave myself plenty of birdie opportunities,” Daniels said. “Despite the forecast the wind really didn’t affect the way I went about attacking this course, and I’m excited to move onto the regional final with my team.”
Clark was 1 over par on her first three holes, starting on the Creek nine, before making back-to-back birdies on the first and second holes of the Oaks nine. After hitting her approach shot into the right greenside bunker at No. 7, Clark hit a brilliant bunker shot to 5 feet and calmly drained the putt to avoid a second consecutive bogey. She finished with two birdies and a bogey in her last four holes, with solid ball-striking leaving her near tap-ins for birdies at 15 and 17. Only a lip-out for par at the last hole kept her from a top 10 finish.
“Firstly, I am so incredibly grateful to the tournament staff for allowing me to play after showing up as late as I was,” Clark said. “That par save on No.7 was huge because it helped me to stay in the fight after a disappointing three-putt on the previous hole. I used to live near Los Serranos, and I’m excited to go back there with an opportunity to advance to the state finals.”
Jia had a little bit of everything in her round starting with two birdies in her first three holes to grab a share of the early lead before making a double bogey to drop to even par. She finished with three straight birdies and a bogey to advance.
Meanwhile, Noble, eliminated in this round of the postseason a year ago, was solid despite not getting home from a tournament in Louisiana until late Wednesday night, She finished with two birdies in her last five holes and nearly holed her approach at the 323-yard final hole to advance.
“It meant a lot for me to get through this year, especially coming so close to moving on a year ago but falling in that playoff,” Noble said. “Today was definitely home sweet home for me and it was definitely nice to have that in my corner considering I didn’t come into this tournament in the best of form.”
Murrieta Valley’s Maddie Sammon was part of a 3-for-2 playoff for spots No. 27 and 28 (the final spots to move onto next week’s regional final) but fell on the second hole after lipping out a 12-foot putt for par.
The four advancing teams were Santa Margarita ,who shot a 359 to win this championship, Orange Lutheran, Peninsula, and Northwood.