Mother Nature plays through at Plumas

Samantha Bendorf was lucky her par putt came when it did Wednesday afternoon at Plumas Lake Golf and Country Club. Bendorf, a member of the Yuba City High girls golf team, sank a 35-foot putt on the par-3 127-yard third hole and immediately raised her arms high in the air while holding her putter. Two holes later, while Bendorf and the others in the group � River Valley�s Michelle Anderson and the Honkers� Jenna Rockwell � were lining up their putts on the fifth green, the elements took over. Gusting winds made it hard for the players to sink putts, or event to keep their balance. �The ball would break when you didn�t want it to and not break when you wanted it to,� Anderson said, after needing four putts to get the ball in the hole. It took another act of nature to halt play. �We saw a couple of bolts of lightning over Yuba City,� Honkers coach Kent Myers said, �so we decided to call the match after five holes. Rain, we don� have a problem with that. But lightning, it�s better to be safe.� The rain did come, as the players filed off the course. �I really wanted to play in the rain,� Anderson said. �It would have been fun. I play softball in the rain and that�s fun.� Bendorf and Rockwell also were disappointed the match was called four holes early. �I was getting better as the match went on,� Rockwell said. �I was doing pretty good actually,� added Bendorf, who was most proud of her par putt. �That�s probably the best putt I�ve ever made,� said Bendorf, who has been playing golf for nine years, having gotten started in a junior program. Bendorf ended up shooting a 31 to finish with low medalist honors. Anderson posted the next-best score � a 35. Those are somewhat misleading, however. �Why not just count the scores and call it for nine holes?� River Valley coach Karen Anderson quipped. Par for nine holes is 35. In reality, though, par for the first five holes was 20. Actually, the outcome was decided before players struck their first drive, as River Valley had to forfeit because the Falcons were one player short of the five-member team. While the Honkers (2-2) officially won the match by forfeit, there was still a lot at stake, as the players were vying for league points that will help determine the Tri-County Conference�s most valuable player and all-league team. Finishing behind Bendorf and Anderson were the Honkers� Lupita Almaraz (37), Savanna Crandall (38), Raveen Rai (39) and Rockwell (40), and the Falcons� Demi Della-Rocco (35), Emily Tomlin (39) and Navreen Thandi (39). The five girls is the entire Honker roster, while River Valley (2-3) also fields just five players. �Other schools are in a similar situation,� Myers said of the limited rosters. �It�s touch, Karen Anderson said. �It seems the girls don�t take the sport as serious as other athletes do. I�m a very competitive person and all I want is for the girls to do well.� Myers, who had several players who did not come out for a team that was expected to be in the TCC hunt, said he is starting from scratch and with an eye on the future. �We�re starting with the basics,� Myers said, adding some of his players have only played miniature golf. �If these girls stick with it, we should be pretty good in a year or two.�