Righetti High School golfer Sarah Fouratt is off to a great start in accomplishing her senior season goal of winning the coveted PAC-8 league title.
The Warriors took home first place honors in the PAC-8 “mini tournament” at the Santa Maria Country Club on Sept. 28, and Fouratt shot the lowest score out of all the league’s golfers: an even 37. A week earlier, in a round against SLO High School at Rancho Maria Golf Course, Fouratt edged out SLO’s star Isabel Carpenter by a stroke.
It’s just the beginning for her and the Righetti team’s journey this year, Fouratt said, but a promising sign of where the season’s going.
“We have a pretty strong team this year and everything’s going well and molding together,” Fouratt said. “The four years I’ve been on [the team] we’ve never won league.”
Beyond Righetti, Fouratt is bound for Seton Hall University next year to continue her golf career at the collegiate level. She said she first started playing the game at the early age of 7.
“My dad went to the driving range for fun, and I’d go with him,” she said. “I just stuck with it.”
Fouratt said she finds solace in the individuality of golf—how the game is on her shoulders through thick and thin.
“It all depends on you. You can’t blame anyone, and no one else can take the praise,” Fouratt said, while adding, “But it’s still a team sport and there’s that team atmosphere. You have to find that common line where it’s a team and individual sport, which is cool.”
Her favorite golfing experience took place a few years ago when she played one of the Pinehurst Resort golf courses in North Carolina, which has hosted several top professional men’s and women’s golf tournaments like the U.S. Open. Her favorite local course is Sandpiper in Santa Barbara.
“It’s really pretty and right on the water, and it’s tough,” she said.
When Fouratt isn’t leading the Righetti squad, she’s participating in junior tournaments mostly in Southern California. That’s where she finds the stiffest competition that will prepare her for college golf.
“I do those on the weekends and they’re very competitive,” she said. “It keeps me on my toes.”
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.