Saga started her round strong with four birdies on the front nine and was sitting in a qualification spot at 3-under par as she made the turn. From there, she held steady with back-to-back pars on the par-3 10th hole and par-4 11th before she faced adversity on the 12th.
She recorded just her second bogey of the day on that hole and fell back to 2-under. That also dropped her out of the top nine spots on the leaderboard, which is the cuf-off for advancing to the state finals. The USC-committed junior responded to that trouble with one of her most clutch shots of the afternoon, recording an eagle on the par-5 13th hole to put her at 4-under and again in a qualifying spot.
After carding a birdie and a double bogey on the 14th and 15th holes, respectively, Saga’s state championship hopes were still in her hands. With her scorecard at 4-under, a cushion of just one stroke between her and qualification, and six competitors trailing her at 3-under, a birdie would clinch a state berth.
Saga came up big again and finished off 18 with a birdie to end her day tied for fourth. She advances to the state’s championships on Wednesday, Nov. 19. She will be one of 54 total golfers in the contest between both individual and team qualifiers.
Waters said Saga is the first golfer in Valencia’s history, girls or boys, to make the state championship.
“Eliana had some amazing moments today, seven birdies and an eagle,” Waters said via email. “She had a few tough holes, but her overall play was excellent and good enough to move on to the State Finals.”
The day was less dramatic for Chuang, a junior who began her round on the third hole. A strong final nine holes proved vital for her to advance.
Chuang sat at 1-under through her opening nine before she surged ahead with three birdies in her next seven to improve her score to 4-under with three holes to play.
From there, she ended her day with two straight pars to finish in a tie for seventh place and advanced to the championship.
Morua and An had uneven outings Thursday as they finished in a tie for 78th place.
