Canyons Starts State Title Defense with Convincing Tourney Win
Canyons wins the season-opening South Coast Classic tourney by 39 strokes, while also sweeping the top three individual spots.
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
VENTURA, Calif. — College of the Canyons women's golf started its state championship defense in dominant fashion by winning the annual two-day South Coast Classic by a convincing 39 strokes.
Canyons — winners of the 2018 Western State Conference (WSC), CCCAA Southern California Regional and CCCAA State Championships — continued to impress with its season-opening performance which saw three different players shoot under-par rounds.
Coincidently, those same three players also swept the field's top three individual spots to help COC surge ahead of second place College of the Desert (COD) in the event standings.
Canyons wrapped up the tourney with a four-player, two-day score of 603 (306/297) to win the event running away. COD was runner-up (642-334/308) followed by third place Santa Barbara City College (647-333/314) and fourth place Mt. San Antonio College (664-342/322).
Sophomore Paige Heuer got the Cougars started with a one-under-par score of 71 at Olivas Links Golf Club on Sunday to lead the field after the opening round. Heuer, who earned All-WSC honors a season ago, went on to card a score of 77 during Monday's round at Buenaventura Golf Club to finish the tourney in second place (148-71/77).
COC sophomore Jessie Lin, the 2018 individual SoCal Regional champ, finished third overall (149-79/70) with her two-under round of 70 during Monday's action. Her second round score of 70 was one of just three under-par rounds for the day.
Sophomore Haruka Koda was the overall event winner (140-72/68) after posting a four-under round of 68 on Monday. Koda's two-day score was the lowest of the tourney and gave the sophomore, who finished as the state runner-up last fall, event medalist honors.
Shabana Poswal (166-84/82) was the fourth to score for COC after shaving two strokes off her Sunday score. Fredeliza Lieberman (192-96/96) also competed for Canyons, but did not factor into the final tallies.
The two-day South Coast Classic also served as the first conference event of the 2019 WSC schedule. Canyons will now head into its next conference event with an early lead on its WSC opponents.
Up next, the Cougars are scheduled to play at the WSC event hosted by SBCC at Santa Barbara Golf Club on Monday, Sept. 9. Tee time is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
South Coast Classic — Aug. 25-26, 2019 — Final Team Scores
1. Canyons (603-306/297) 2. Desert (642-334/308) 3. SBCC (647-333/314) 4. Mt. SAC (664-342/322) 5. Palomar (783-408/375) 6. Antelope Valley (831-417/414) 7. Bakersfield (936-485/451) 8. Citrus (938-484/454)
South Coast Classic — Aug. 25-26, 2019 — Canyons Individual Scores
Haruka Koda (140-72/68-medalist); Paige Heuer (148-71/77); Jessie Lin 149-79/70); Shabana Poswal (166-84/82); Fredeliza Lieberman (192-96/96-scratch).
Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.