The562’s coverage of Long Beach golf is sponsored by Dan and Desiree Gooch.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
A unicorn is a mythical creature, but sports fans have taken to calling unique athletes unicorns to express how truly rare they are.
Long Beach Poly freshman Loren Fearence is a unicorn.
Fearence immediately became the best Moore League girls’ golfer when this season started, and after some impressive rounds along the way, she capped her first high school regular season by winning the individual league championship on Thursday at Skylinks Golf Course.
Fearence is the first Jackrabbit to win the title since Jamie Gracie in 2012, is only the second ever freshman to win the three-round tournament and is a woman of color.
“She’s Filipino and African American, so it’s almost like the next Tiger Woods almost, right?” said Carmen Salazar, Fearence’s mother.
“I know it’s a big thing for Poly to bring that back so I’m honored to be in that role today,” said Fearence. “It’s just the dedication and the work that I’ve put in. Not even just this season, but my whole golf career. Like half of my life. A lot of that is thanks to my mom, my grandpa, my coaches and just the whole community (of Long Beach) in general.”
After carding a total even-par 75 across the first two rounds this week, nine holes each at El Dorado Park and Recreation Park golf courses, Fearence shot an impressive 69 at Skylinks. Her 3-under final round included three birdies and no bogeys.
“I actually felt pretty good because this is one of my home courses and I feel like I’m pretty confident on the course,” said Fearence, who enjoyed playing on the shorter women’s tees than she usually plays. “Usually I take my time to be really locked into the game but today I felt like I was able to go out and play more loosely and enjoy it because it’s my first time.”
It was Fearence’s consistent and clutch approach shots that set her up to go low on the day. She birdied the fourth and sixth holes thanks to great shots from the fairway, and even when she missed the green on the 10th hole, Fearence flopped a chip within five-feet for the kick-in par.
Fearence also had inches left for birdie when she put her tee shot next to the cup on the par-3, 150-yard 13th hole.
“I didn’t expect it to be close because there was wind and I clubbed up,” she said of the near hole in one. “I was trying to be really careful when I swung, When I walked up there I was like, ‘Oh, is that me?’”
“Loren is an amazing talent and an even better person,” said Poly coach Bill Dodge. “We are fortunate to have her on our team. She is stoic in the face of adversity, taking every round one shot at a time. Her competitive nature and playful personality are infectious. I would say she has had more of an influence on us than we have had on her.”
Fearence said she, “Played okay, but not my best,” and the best example of her pursuit of perfection was her chip onto the 18th green. She took a handful of clubs to dial in her chip that she got up and down for par.
“I was trying to conquer, it’s not a fear, but it’s just me telling myself to chip it instead of putting it,” she said. “Usually I would just pull out the putter and wack it up there, but I really wanted to face something leaving the 18th green. I set myself on chipping.”
Before picking up the trophy, Fearence made sure to thank her coaches, sponsors and grandpa Buen Luciano for all the lessons.
“I’m so happy for her, she practices a lot,” said Luciano. “When she was little I could see a lot of good progression because she wanted to play and then she started winning competitions because she was just competitive.”
The victory qualified Fearence for the upcoming CIF Southern Section regional competition along with fellow top four finishers Kara Teter from Poly, Hailey Stoskopf from Millikan and Jasmine Lim from Millikan. Because of a tie at 180 overall, the freshman Lim had to birdie a playoff hold against Jenelle Pulido to take fourth and move on to CIF.
Regionals are on Oct. 28 and team division competition is Nov. 4.
