SBCC's Annie Betts Wins SoCal Regional Championship

CHINO HILLS, Calif. - Santa Barbara City College freshman golfer, Annie Betts, made history on Monday afternoon after securing an individual title at the 2024 Women's Golf Southern California Regional Championship. She became the first member of the Vaqueros squad to win the individual crown at the regional event since Carolin Chang back in 2016. | ORIGINAL RELEASE / COMPLETE RESULTS

Betts came out strong on day one, firing a bogey-free 70 (-4, par 74) at the Los Serranos Golf Club en route to a four-stroke lead on the rest of the pack. Mt. San Antonio College's Kylie Lau followed with an even mark of 74 while the WSC Champion, Sayha Kitabatake (Canyons), shot a 76 to end one down six shots from the top. 

The Michigan native opened day two steadily and boasted a one-under score by hole seven before hitting a few snags. She suffered back-to-back bogeys on #7 and #8 before facing a double bogey on the 9th and faced a one-shot deficit to Lau after the front nine. Betts bounced back with a pair of pars on #11 and #12 and went on to register birdies #13, #15/16, and #18 en route to a tie at the top of the individual standings after day two. Betts secured the title after winning the card-off tiebreaker against Lau thanks to her stellar play down the stretch across the final six holes. 

Betts and the Vaqueros, who finished fifth overall, will compete at the 3C2A State Championship event on November 17-18. The two-day competition will be hosted at Monarch Dunes in Nipomo with tee times set for 7:30 AM on both days of competition. SBCC will be joined by fellow Western State Conference members, Moorpark College, on the team stage after the Raiders landed in third. Individual qualifiers from the conference include Sahya Kitabatake (Canyons), Kariss Whitford (Allan Hancock), Keila Dowell (Citrus), and Cierra Coia (Canyons).