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On the green, Brandee Benson ’24 watches the path of her ball after hitting it towards the hole. Benson’s team, the Westwood Girls 1st team, ended the tournament with a total score of 67. “I think it was a lot of fun,” Benson said. ” I’m really proud of us and I think we did great.”
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Confidently, Jordyn Choe ’27 tees off after a few practice swings. Although this was Choe’s first golf tournament, she and her team received the best score among all girls teams. “It was a lot of fun because I got to play with my friends and we scored well,” Choe said. “I think that for my first tournament, I didn’t do too bad.”
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Collaborating, the Westwood Girls 1st team assesses their results from their current hole. Each Westwood team consisted of three or four players, who provided each other with support and encouragement throughout the tournament. “Playing with my teammates [was the highlight],” Nancy Lu ’27 said.
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Carefully, the Westwood Girls 1st team prepares to make their final shot into the hole. Due to the scramble format of this tournament, all players of each team take their next shot from the location of the best shot of the previous ball. “I think I played okay but I can improve my chipping,” Nancy Lu ’27 said. “But my irons were pretty good today.”
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After taking their shots, the Westwood Girls 2nd team takes a quick break before moving onto the green. Because this tournament was a home game, the Westwood coaches in attendance worked to provide lunch and snacks for the players’ comfort. “[Our role includes] making sure all the schools are being taken care of and getting fed,” Coach Boyett said.
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Aiming her golf club, Shruthi Srikanth ’25 prepares to hit her ball into the hole as her teammates watch. Her team, the Westwood Girls 2nd team, accumulated a score of 72 by the end of the tournament. “There were a couple of holes where we were really close to getting one point less,” Srikanth said. “We had a lot of cool shots.”
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As his teammates watch, Druhinh Roy ’24 takes a shot next to a sand pit. His team, the Westwood Boys 1st team, ended the tournament with a relatively low score of 66, coming in 2nd place among the boys teams.
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After teeing off, Kaushik Nagarajan ’24 tracks the trajectory of his ball. Depending on the best shot within their team, the players had the opportunity to pick their next starting point.
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In the teeing area, Cameron Hobbs ’26 takes a practice swing before teeing off. Hobbs’ team, the Westwood boys second team, ended the game with 67 points, finishing in third place among the boys teams and tying with the Westwood girls first team.
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With the frontage roads next to Balcones Country Club in the distance, Kaushik Nagarajan ’24 puts the flag back into its hole. The Westwood Boys 2nd team previously removed the flag for putting.
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After finishing a hole, the Westwood Boys 2nd team packs up their clubs. Due to the low temperatures on the day of the tournament, most golfers dressed adequately for the cold.
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The JV boys and JV girls golf teams competed against 21 other high school teams in a five-hour tournament at Balcones Country Club on Monday, Feb. 5. All Westwood teams scored highly, placing among the top three highest-scoring teams within their respective divisions.
“It went fairly fast, the kids played well, and everyone seemed to have a good time,” Head Golf Coach Blake Boyett said.
This tournament was the Warrior golf program’s first hosted scramble of the year. A scramble is a common format for golf tournaments, during which all players on a team hit their ball, then decide the best shot and all hit their next shots from there.
“We played in one or two [scrambles] last semester, and we’ll host one more ourselves,” Assistant Golf Coach Paige Scharchburg said. “We’ll play in one or two more outside of just ours. [Scramble tournaments are] getting more popular.”
Although scrambles often result in lower scores, the windy conditions during the tournament challenged players to carefully consider each shot, and tested their abilities to keep the ball out of the wind.
“The scores were tough because of the weather,” Coach Boyett said. “It was windy so that made the scores a little bit higher than they usually are. But overall, both boys teams shot under par, which is good. One of the girls teams shot under par, and our other girls team shot right around par, so they all played really well, given the weather.”
With a cumulative score of 67, the Westwood girls first team came in first place among the girls teams, as well as third place overall. Like the other three Warrior teams competing, the girls first team struggled with the cold temperatures, which had dipped into the 50s at the start of the tournament. To stay warm, both new and experienced players alike donned heavy coats that interfered with their movement.
“It was a bit harder with more accessories that [we] had to wear, but as it started getting warmer we became used to it, and it became easier and more fun,” Jordyn Choe ‘27 said. “My teammates definitely played very well, and they improved a lot towards the end as it got warmer. I was a little nervous but I was excited to play with the people that I knew. I think that for my first tournament, I didn’t do too bad, [but] there’s definitely improvement that could be done.”
The boys first team came in second place across all teams with an overall score of 66. The team excelled at putting and hit five birdies total, but many of the Warriors believed that they could have improved their tee shots.
“We had a bad hole so we could’ve done better,” Dylan McCarville ‘26 said. “We could’ve been 65 but we had a bogey. We all hit really bad tee shots and our second shots were really bad also, but we picked it up after that.”
The Westwood boys second team’s total score of 67 put them in third place among the boys teams.
“I had a couple of good putts, but a couple of bad 7-irons, right at the camera crew,” Brady Jenson ‘27 said. “[I need to] improve my driver. I did not do good [but] my team as a whole did well.”
Finally, the girls second team finished the tournament with an overall score of 72. Their results brought them to 3rd place among the girls teams, right behind Liberty Hill, which had a total score of 71. The Warriors left the tournament feeling that the team needs to improve on specific aspects of their swing, but overall hit many good shots.
“There are definitely places where we could improve but overall it was a good experience,” Marlene Luo ‘25 said. “This is our home court so we practice here but [we] definitely have to get used to playing in different conditions.”
The girls second team was well-prepared for the tournament, using their knowledge of the Balcones Country Club, as well as their experiences with playing in all sorts of weather conditions, to their advantage.
“We have to get used to playing in super hot weather, super cold weather, rainy weather, even tornado weather,” Shruthi Srikanth ‘25 said. “We play at Balcones a lot during practice. When [we have] tournaments here, we know where to aim on every hole, and what the greens are like. We are accustomed to the interesting grass here. It’s mostly dead and it’s not that clean so when you hit it, there’s a lot of stuff that can interfere with your swing. You have to adjust your swing slightly so you can make proper contact with the ball.”
The coaches also had an important role to play within the tournament. As hosts, their tasks included making sure all teams were where they needed to be, as well as driving around and offering chicken sandwiches to all players for lunch.
“All day, we’re just trying to check in with coaches and teams, making sure that they’re staying on time,” Coach Paige said. “When we have this many golfers in one tournament, sometimes it gets a little slow. We had a couple of spots where teams got backed up. I don’t know if this was because of the wind. We had to tell teams to hurry and catch up to the group in front of them so we could finish in a reasonable amount of time.”
Although this tournament served as a preparation for the more competitive games in March, the Warriors were also able to socialize and enjoy themselves throughout the tournament.
“It was a great learning experience for everybody,” Girls Golf Captain Brandee Benson ‘24 said. “[The weather] definitely made it interesting but we all got through regardless. I’m really proud of us and I think we did great.”
The Varsity boys will compete in their first tournament of the year at the Delaware Springs Golf Course on Friday, Feb. 16.
