Garces' Guzman's selected as All-Area Girls Golfer of the Year
| Thursday, Dec 25 2008 09:54 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:49 PM
Images
Mica Guzman
It was only a few minutes after Mica Guzman had completed her South Area-winning round of golf, but the Garces senior wasn't about to rest on her laurels.
It's just not her style.
There Guzman was, the best girls golfer Kern County has to offer, staging a putting competition with Haggerty-North Kern Golf Course worker and local amateur John Dunn.
"I kind of separated myself because I have the drive," Guzman said, and that's why she's The Californian'sGirls Golfer of the Year for the third straight season. "I've spent hours and hours. Golf is pretty much my whole life."
Practice paid off. Guzman held her stroke average below 76 this year, winning three Southeast Yosemite League mini-tournaments and the South Area tournament, finishing second in the Central Section tournament by a stroke and recording the section's lowest score at the Southern California regional.
She did it all even though it was all expected of her. Keith Perkins was Garces' first-year coach, but he knew what he was getting in Guzman.
"Her caliber and capability? Absolutely," Perkins said. "She was pretty well known through junior golf. ... But I was very impressed with the length that she hit the ball. It was a pleasant surprise."
Her work ethic and competitiveness shone also. When Garces teammate Cassie Clayton shot an eye-popping 68 at RiverLakes, Guzman congratulated her, then used it to motivate herself.
"Everybody was happy for Cassie, including Mica, but it wasn't 10 minutes later, Mica was out on that practice green," Perkins said. "One pushed the other, and it was a really good thing."
It's that type of effort that has Guzman thinking big about her future also. She makes no bones about her goal -- earn her card on the LPGA Tour -- and already has made the next step. Last month she signed a letter of intent to play Division I golf for Cal State Fullerton.
"I'm totally psyched to go to college and get away," Guzman said. "It's a whole different level of play, and you've got to have a lot of determination to be the best."
Perkins knows that will play into Guzman's hands.
"Mica has the tools to do it, but it's going to take dedication," Perkins said. "There's going to be people out there every bit as good as her, but she's got the mindset to do it."
This season, Guzman said, didn't finish the way she wanted it to. Garces fell short of a section championship, as did she as an individual when Liberty's Deidre Crabtree shot 73 to her 74. She didn't reach the state championship either.
"Things couldn't come together," she said. "But what can you do?"
Well, hit the course for some more practice, for one. It's no secret Guzman has already done that. How far it continues to take her remains to be seen.
"I wouldn't bet against her," Perkins said.
