The562’s coverage of Long Beach golf for the 2023 season is sponsored from Dan and Desiree Gooch.
Not only did Wilson’s Alyson Sor win her third Moore League Individual championship on Thursday at Recreation Park Golf Course, she made history while repeating the feat.
Sor shot a 135 over 36 holes which ties the league record for low finish with Wilson great Ali Morallos. Sor, Morallos (2014-16) and Wilson’s Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana (2000-02) are the only golfers in league history to win three individual titles. Sor won it as a freshman and as a junior before finishing her career on top again.
“I was really nervous throughout the whole week but during this third round I was super calm,” Sor said. “I wasn’t really too focused on (the record), but I’m really happy I got to tie it.”
Sor was leading by 11 strokes headed into the final 18 holes at Recreation Park, where Wilson practices every day.
“I was really excited when they said we were going to play Rec last,” Sor said. “I’m here every single day so I know this course like the back of my hand. It was really easy to just go though the motions and I know how to hit these shots.”
One of those shots came on the 18th and final hole of the tournament where Sor knew she needed a birdie to tie the record. Her drive went left into the first cut of rough, and she had about 140-yards uphill on her approach shot.
“I ended up thinning it really badly and I thought it was off the green but it ended up being super close,” Sor said. “I knew I had made that putt a thousand times.”
Sor rolled in the four-foot birdie putt to tie the record and celebrated with a bright smile and hugs from everyone around the green including her family and friends.
“I felt really loved in the moment,” Sor said. “I’m really thankful for all of the support I’ve had. I had a couple of rough weeks during the season to try and break records. A lot of people told me I was good enough and that I could do it.”
Last year, Sor also tied Morallos and Emi Sverduk’s Wilson record for 5-under par in a 9-hole round.
“I’m not surprised,” Wilson coach Paul Henry said of Sor’s finish. “In the overall record books it would be hard to find five girls who are as good as she is.”
Sor’s Wilson teammate Sammy Shaw finished second with a 154, and Poly’s Kate Montemayor was third at 156. The other three golfers who advance to the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament next week are Poly’s Madison Williams (4th, 165), Millikan’s Hailey Stoskopf (5th, 167) and Millikan’s Monique Thomas (6th, 179). Wilson’s Chloe Pearl and Ava Hinkle tied for seventh at 184 to also medal.
After 9-hole rounds at Skylinks and El Dorado on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, Sor had shot a combined round of 67. The senior shot a 68 at Rec Park, and said that this tournament she was more relaxed because she wasn’t competing against her best friend, Sverduk. Sor also said she stayed clam by singing old Billie Eilish songs she listened to her freshman year when she won her first individual title.
“I just knew that I could play good golf so if I continued to do what I did then I’d be perfectly fine,” Sor said. “I just trusted myself.”
“She was really impressive,” Henry said. “I would say about four weeks ago she wasn’t as confident in her putting. It was something where they weren’t dropping and she didn’t understand why. She put a lot of work into it. She got back to a point where she was confident when she hit it that it would drop.”
Sor has high hopes for the CIF individual competition next week.
“I feel pretty confident,” she said. “I know I have stuff to work on and if I dial in on those things I can do pretty well in CIF”
