Close one: Palm Desert edges La Quinta in crucial girls' golf match

It came down to just a few shots, but the Palm Desert High School girls' golf team gave their head coach a big birthday present Thursday.

“This is the worst we have played all season,” Palm Desert head coach Kaitlyn Ellis said after her team scratched out a 228-234 victory over La Quinta High School in a key Desert Emprise League match. “I’m glad that we did it here, with the confidence that we can play better.”

The win at Big Rock Golf Club at Indian Springs in Indio moves Palm Desert to 5-0 in league play, while La Quinta suffers its first loss in league and drops to 6-1.

“I told the girls that this would be about chipping and putting and the team that did that best would win,” La Quinta head coach Gary Nadler said. “And that’s what happened.”

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While the teams have one more match in October, to be played at Palm Desert’s home course of Desert Willow Golf Resort, the victory Thursday gives Palm Desert the edge in winning the league title for the second year in a row and the 24th time in the last 25 years.

The Palm Desert victory came despite La Quinta posting the two low scores of the nine-hole match. Freshman Joanna Bushnell Crist shot a 1-over 37 for the Blackhawks, while senior Haylie Hutchinson posted a 39. But in the six-play, five-score format, Palm Desert’s depth was the difference.

Important match for the season

The importance of the match was not lost on the players Thursday.

“I think it puts less pressure on us,” said Palm Desert senior Hailey Hays, who led the Aztecs with a 41. “It wasn’t our best day, but we still come out with a win and winning with confidence, knowing that we can beat them. We have the girls, we have the team, we have the scores.”

Coco Mazet added a 45 for Palm Desert, while freshman Amelia Candari added a 46. Bella Fuentz shot 47, while Lilly Poulanu and Emily Tucker each shot 49, only one of the scores counting.

The La Quinta scoring was rounded out by Leyna Jaster’s 46, Daisy Castro’s 53 and Avery Doyle’s 59, while Ashley Arce shot 63.

Players on both teams commented on the fast greens at Indian Springs, greens that saw both teams suffer hard lip-outs and long putts that kept rolling eight or 10 feet past the hole.

Ellis admitted she was nervous before the match, but that she told her players they could win.

“I’m super proud of my last group today,” Ellis said of Candari and Tucker. “A couple of our players played bad today, and yet we still won.  Like I told them before they got here. It’s going to be close, but if we have confidence in ourselves, that we can do it, we’ll win.”

For Nadler the near-miss Thursday only provides more reason for confidence the rest of the season.

“It’s all about effort. How much effort did you put into it?” Nadler said. “Haylie and Joanna played well, and I think we can get better. The only thing we have been doing is practicing chipping and putting.”