Far from the lights of Rec Park or the courts of Healdsburg High, one of the most successful athletic teams of this year, as it was last, is the girls golf team. Last year’s team won the NBL-Redwood pennant with a 10-0 record, besting each league opponent twice. This year’s team is off to another strong start, with a proven roster of players.
High school golfers play on professional nine-hole courses, whose par is usually 35 or 36, just as an 18-hole tournament has a par 72 as the standard. High schoolers who break par are rare, but it is not unheard of even at this level. Brooklyn Viramontes is one: She broke par in the Rancho Cotate match of Sept. 14, and again against Windsor a week later, Sept. 22. A sophomore who led the team last year and holds two state teen golfing championships (Hawaii and Oregon), Viramontes was selected as co-captain this year, along with senior Zella Santana.
Team scores routinely overwhelm the opponents, and this year every member of a competition Greyhound girls golf team has defeated their rivals a couple of different times. On Sept. 22, the team kept its perfect league record intact with a decisive 215–276 victory over Windsor at Tayman Park—their home course—as every Greyhound won her individual matchup. The Hounds combined for a new team high of four birdies.
Two days later, girls varsity golf stayed perfect in league play as they rolled past Analy 225–299, again at Tayman. For the second straight match, every Greyhound won her individual matchup, and the Lady Hounds finished 74 strokes ahead. Viramontes was the match medalist with a 39, and Natalia Arreguin added a 41 that featured the team’s only birdie of the day.
Other players on the select varsity squad, coached by Tony Viramontes with Todd Au assisting, include seniors Zella Santana and Siena Yeilding, sophomore Keira Au and junior Amber Dhiman.
This week finds the team meeting Cardinal Newman Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Tayman Park, 927 S. Fitch Mountain Rd. at 3:30pm. Golf matches may not have the bright lights or cheerleaders of other varsity sports, but keep an eye on this year’s girls varsity golf to see if another pennant comes to town.
