Days after her jaw-dropping display at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V Championships, Turlock Christian girls golfer Kathleen Rojas was still shaking and stuttering about what she did on Tuesday.
“It was something about the course,” the junior said.
That doesn’t even begin to explain how she overcame roaring winds, the freezing cold, blowing dirt and rolling tumbleweeds — “unplayable conditions,” her coach warned — to fire a 12-par-over 84 at Stevinson Ranch to win the individual title when all she hoped for was to break into the 90s.
“I still can’t believe I shot an 84,” she said recently before traveling to The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton for a practice round. That’s the site of Monday’s Masters Tournament, where she acknowledged that she’s comfortable there after playing a couple matches with the Eagles’ boys team in the spring.
Rojas also will have Mother Nature on her side, as Monday is expected to be warm and sunny — the opposite of the conditions of Stevinson Ranch on Tuesday. Meagan McGrew of Woodland Christian High was the only other girl to even break 100, as she finished second with a 98 to be one of three individuals to advance to the Masters, along with Woodland Christian teammate and sister Abbey McGrew and Rojas.
Escalon High advanced as the team champion by firing a 599.
Rojas didn’t set her goals very high. Again, she wanted to break a 90, pretty low for someone who was playing her first 18-hole tournament since appearing at the prestigious Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach in August. Before playing, she watched the conditions and thought it was one of those days when pars were as good as birdies and bogeys were as good as pars.
“I was playing an old man’s par game,” she said.
At the same time, Rojas has been playing at Stevinson Ranch for years. And she has even thanked the golf course’s founder, George Kelley, for his design, saying that she understands the course very well.
Rojas, who was a key part of the Eagles capturing the Division VI boys golf title in the spring, said that her putting and some luck helped her produce the day’s best and hard-to-believe score. After two years, the junior decided to play in the girls golf postseason because she only had two more chances before she graduates.
And it was quite a memorable experience.
“The girls out there should be proud of themselves,” Turlock Christian coach Jeff Cederlind said. “Not a single girl quit.”