Carlmont’s Lee capture title

Would there be enough daylight left to play a two-person playoff? Could there be any other golfer behind that first group who would be able to match Lee and Corcoran and join a possible playoff?

All of playoff talk became a moot point, however. Carlmont’s Lee made a par putt from five feet below the hole on hole No. 18, while Corcoran’s four-foot attempt lipped out, giving Lee the PAL title.

Lee finished with a 3-over 74. Corcoran carded a 4-over 75.

“I was quite surprised (Corcoran missed). We had almost identical putts,” said Lee, a sophomore, who came into the match as the No. 3 seed behind No. 1 Corcoran and No. 2 Irene Hur of Millbrae.

Lee’s victory ended a streak of three straight Hillsdale champions. Ashlyn Johnson, who graduated this past spring, won the title her sophomore and junior years, passing the torch to Corcoran last season.

“I think I got a little bit nervous,” said Corcoran, also a sophomore. “Not the best putting today, for sure.”

Making the missed putt even more disappointing was the fact that Corcoran had only moments before burned the left edge of the cup on a 35-foot, snaking, downhill putt. She even had a chance to read the break of Lee’s putt, since they were on almost identical lines, just one foot apart.

“This was one of her better rounds. … I think she had a chance (to win),” said Carlmont head coach Hari Kurup, adding Lee was coming off back-to-back rounds of 74 at Haggin Oaks in Sacramento at a tournament over the weekend.

“[Lee] is kind of tournament ready,” Kurup said. “She’s peaking at the right time.”

Lee was steady Eddie on the front nine, her only hiccups being a bogey-5 on the par-4 second, which plays as the toughest hole on the course. She also had a bogey on the par-3 seventh, but closed the front nine with a birdie on No. 9 to go out in a 1-over 36.

Corcoran, meanwhile, bogeyed the par-3 third and the the ninth to go out with a 2-over 38.

But Corcoran got both shots back on the par-5 10th hole, when she reached in two and was looking at seven-foot putt for eagle, which she drained. Lee parred the hole and the two were tied with seven holes left to play.

Corcoran fell a shot back following a three-putt on 11, but Lee gave the lead back when she double-bogeyed the par-5 14, hitting into a green-side bunker and then skulling her punch out from the sand over the green and into the rough.

But Lee responded with her best shot of the day on her approach at No. 16. About 30 yards off the green, she hit a perfect chip shot to about three feet and knocked it down for a birdie.

“That (approach) gave me a good look at birdie,” Lee said. “It feels like the greens have gotten a little faster (since last time I played Poplar).”

When Corcoran putted out for par, the two were tied with two holes left. They both parred the par-3 17th to set up the dramatics on the final hole.

“It feels good (to win a PAL title),” Lee said. “I’ve been practicing a lot and it paid off.”

The win means Lee automatically qualified for the Central Coast Section tournament and she will be the only Scot in the field, keeping Carlmont’s streak alive of qualifying for CCS.

The Scots had qualified as a team the last two seasons, but missed this year.

“I had lost hope of going to CCS,” Kurup said jokingly. The CCS tournament is scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 4, at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey. Corcoran has a good chance of receiving an at-large bid.

Mills’ Hur, a freshman who was awarded third place on a tiebreaker after she and Aragon’s Autumn Ogawa, who was playing in the day’s third group, both finished with rounds of 8-over 79s — with Hur getting the nod based on a better back-9 score, 38-43.

Hur was the No. 2 seed, right behind Corcoran, but she got off to a shaky start with a triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 third, followed by a double-bogey 6 and the par-4 fourth. She stabilized after that, but could not make up the deficit.

Mills had two other golfers finish in the top 10, with Angelina Chen coming in with an 85 and Christina Chen finishing with an 87.

Aragon also had three players with top-1o finishes. In addition to Ogawa’s 79, Kate Chong carded an 82 and Hannah Lin had an 86.

Elaina Foley, who led Burlingame to the Ocean Division title, took home fifth following a round of 5-over 80, while M-A’s Savannah Lee rounded out the top 10 with a round of 88.

Burlingame's Jolene Liu, who was in the second-to-last group, also finished with a round of 88 to tie with Savannah Lee, but the M-A golfer earned the No. 10 finish based on a tiebreaker.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to show that Burlingame's Jolene Liu finished in a tie for 10th with M-A's Savannah Lee, but Lee got the 10th-place spot based on a tiebreaker.