At the first tee on Pala Mesa golf course, captain Chaewon Chon (12) set her bag down and exhaled, ready to face the challenge of league finals ahead.

The two-day tournament, day one on  October 20 and day two on the 22nd, brought together all the teams in the Palomar League to compete to qualify for CIFs. 

For Chon, keeping her own mentality positive was her priority.

“The first tee shot is always the scariest but I knew that I needed to have faith in myself so I just sent it with full confidence,” Chon said.  “My second shot, however, wasn’t very good. I lost some distance on the ball, but it stayed pretty straight and it went where I needed to go so it was definitely something that I could recover from.”

Through two holes, Chon shot a bogey, putting her score at 5. Despite her mediocre start, Chon focused on recovering and finishing the tournament strong. 

“At this point I was just trying to gain more confidence in my game,” she said. “I kind of got a grasp of what I was playing like today so I would say that it was a decent first few holes.”

Chon made her way to Hole 3, which would prove to be her biggest challenge. Her first shot went out of bounds, meaning that she had to take a stroke-and-distance, resulting in a two-stroke penalty 

“I didn’t realize that my ball went out of bounds so I had to walk all the way back to where I first shot, and then I had to basically play the hole by myself because everyone else had already passed through,” Chon said. “So I was definitely stressing out a little bit. I knew that my score was already going to be bad because I had that penalty, but definitely that hole was my biggest letdown of the day.”

Regardless, Chon was able to recover towards the end of the round. 

“Sometimes the best shots come out in the last three holes, which is a little unfortunate knowing that you could have hit like that the entire day, but it’s always nice to be able to finish strong,” Chon said.

Chon finished day one 21 strokes over par with a score of 93, hoping to rebound on the second day of the tournament at Miramar Memorial golf course.

“[Miramar] was definitely an easier course, the conditions are a lot better,” Chon said. “The grass wasn’t as maintained, but it’s definitely flatter and it’s a lot wider, so you have more grace to see where your ball will land. There are less bunkers too, so it was definitely a better day for me.”

Chon started off with a solid first hole, but the second shot was tricky, she said.

“My tee shot was very straight and nice, so that was great,” she said. “But on my second shot, I overshot it and it went over, and then I chipped onto the green, so I had to two-putt it for a bogey.”

Hole two would prove to be a similar challenge for Chon, where she got another bogey.

On hole three, a par 3 of 110 yards, Chon said she misjudged her aim. Luckily, she was able to recover on Hole 4 with a par. 

“My tee shots started going straighter, which was nice, but my second shots, they were still kind of iffy,” she said. “I need to work on my second iron shots.”

Overall, Chon said that being able to push forward despite having a poor hole is vital, and ultimately what led to the golf team performing well at league finals.

“I think we did really well to not focus too much on the length of the tournament and how hard it was going to be and keeping  positive and making sure to keep up the mentality that leagues are a one time event,” she said. “So we did really well in terms of trying to keep it positive and making sure that we put in our best effort to do well.”

On day two, Chon finished with a score of 92,  advancing her to CIFs, which took place earlier this week.

“I think it was a good moment for, or a good round for all of us on the team, so I’m overall pretty happy,” Chon said. “I’m ready for CIFs and just excited to see how everyone does.”

At the start of the season Chon said her main goal was to lead her team with consistency and positivity, especially as a senior and as team captain. After months of practice and hard work, Chon said that league finals felt like a reward for their hard  work.

“Leagues is one of the only 18 whole tournaments we could do in the season,” she said. “This being my last one I really wanted to relish it and just have fun with the girls that I played with.”