Talley Rocks At Pebble

Ex-Justin star has thrived since transferring to prep school with elite golf team

By MARTY JAMES, Executive Sports Editor

The engraver for the CIF Girls State Championship, to be held Nov. 15 at Poppy Hills Golf Course, may want to think about getting started on the trophy.

The winning school’s name could very well read “Robert Louis Stevenson” of Pebble Beach.

A Central Coast Section school that plays in the Tri-County Athletic League, RLS is off to a 10-0 start with a very talented, experienced and deep ladder.

There’s Mina Harigae, the country’s No. 1-ranked junior who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship and is a four-time California Women’s Amateur champion. She qualified in July for the U.S. Women’s Open, where she was only one of four amateur competitors to make the cut, and won the Verizon Junior Heritage Tournament in February. For its premiere issue, “Girl” magazine, a publication targeted toward female teen athletes, chose Harigae to appear within its “Athletes To Watch” section.

There’s Sydney Burlison, a top-10 nationally ranked junior who played with Harigae at the Junior Girls Solheim Cup in Sweden in September.

And there’s Emily Talley, the Marin County Athletic League Tournament champion and a First-Team All-MCAL selection in 2006, who transferred after her junior year at Justin-Siena High School in Napa to attend Stevenson and play golf for the Pirates.

“I love this team,” said Talley, a Napa resident who had a busy summer of tournament golf playing in Junior Golf Association of Northern California and American Junior Golf Association events. She tied for ninth place in a field of 72 players and helped lead the JGANC to a second-place finish at the 30th Girls Junior America’s Cup, a prestigious event that brings together an elite international field of 18 teams at the historic Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore.

“Being on the golf team kind of helped out my transition into the school,” she said. “It made life a lot easier, because you have something in common right off the bat.”

Talley, a senior, has already been the medalist twice for Stevenson, a college prep school located at Pebble Beach and within close proximity to Spyglass Hill, one of the courses used by the team for its practices and matches. The Pirates also play at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Tehama Golf Club, Spanish Bay Inn and Golf Links, Del Monte Golf Course and Poppy Hills.

Her adjustment to a new community, new school, new classes, new teachers, new team, new coach and new courses is going well, Talley said. Her parents, Rob and Kim, agree.

“She seems very happy there,” said Rob. “We don’t hear from her all that much, so we assume that’s a good sign. Whenever we talk to her, she’s always talking about all the various activities she’s involved in. I think it’s been a good thing. She likes her classes, her teachers and her classmates.

“Everything she reports has been real positive. I think the thing that she’s most excited about is just who her peers are, who her classmates are and all their interests and all their talents. It’s just been so interesting and amazing to her to meet all these kids. In a way it’s like going to college a year early. We’ve been really pleased so far.”

Stevenson’s enrollment of 520, a combination of both day and boarding, includes students from 20 states and 16 countries in grades 9-12. She has a heavy academic load (English, economics, calculus, physics, French, computer skills) and has a mandatory study hall each night.

“I miss Napa and I miss all of my friends at Justin, but at the same time it’s such a good experience,” said Talley, who lives on campus. “It’s been exciting. I really, really enjoy it. It was a totally new environment.

“It’s really nice to play next to Sydney Burlison and Mina Harigae. I feel like I’m learning something being with them.”

With Talley playing a key part, Stevenson has dual match wins over Watsonville (158-177) and Alvarez (142-260). She fired a 1-over-par 37 in the match against Alvarez and posted consistently low scores during the summer, including a 68 to win the girls 15-17 division at the California State Fair Junior at the Haggin Oaks golf complex in Sacramento, and a 68 at Rooster Run in Petaluma to qualify for the Northern California Golf Association Junior Championship.

To make it to state, Stevenson will need to be among the qualifiers at the CCC and Northern California tournaments.

“Emily is the quintessential female athlete,” David Vivolo, the Stevenson coach and Monterey Peninsula CC head golf professional, told the Monterey County Herald. “She’s also quite smart. In fact, she didn’t come to Stevenson for the golf. She came for the academics.”

Talley, who plays out of Napa Valley Country Club, said she is being challenged academically and athletically every day. Playing a course like Spyglass Hill, a spectacular and demanding layout set on rolling terrain with a combination of ocean and forest holes, elevated and undulating greens, sand dunes and ocean views, can be a test like none other in the game.

“You do not play aggressive on Spyglass,” she said in a telephone interview last week. “You do not want to go in the ice plant and all that stuff that can get yourself into so much trouble. At Spyglass there’s no room for error. You will play what you know you can play and nothing more.”

Talley said she’s had to adjust her game to the other links-style courses set along the Monterey Peninsula.

“She’s certainly holding up her end of the field, too, by playing better and better golf,” said Kim Talley. “I think she’s adjusting beautifully. It really is a wonderful opportunity. She’s just done great. I think they’re all very well coached and Emily is just benefiting from it all.

“She’s a very, very good competitor and she really enjoys the tournaments tremendously. The school is very welcoming and they keep them very busy with all sorts of wonderful activities. Her teammates are wonderful. She misses her Justin friends and all of the teachers and administrators. She’s done really well. We’re very, very proud of her. She’s made some very good friends down there.”

Talley’s summer season featured:

• Helping the North team to a win over the South in the 11th annual Girls North/South Matches at Poppy Hills.

• Winning the JGANC/NorCal PGA Championship at Diablo Grande Resort in Patterson.

• Advancing to the second round of the championship flight at the annual California Girls State, played at Monterey Peninsula CC.

• Winning the Joe Brophy-Bill Loudon Junior Golf Classic in Vallejo with an even-par 70 on the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club’s East Course.

• Finishing 14th at the TomatoBank Northern California Classic, a national event. The 54-hole American Junior Golf Association tournament took place at the Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton.

• Capturing the Sacramento City Junior Easter Championship at Bing Maloney Golf Course.

• Winning the Sonoma County Junior at Oakmont Golf Course in Santa Rosa.

• Winning the Tokay Junior, a premier event on the JGANC at Woodbridge Country Club in Lodi.

• Finishing sixth at the AJGA’s Medicus Preseason Junior at Rancho Mirage. It was held at the Westin Mission Hills Resort’s Gary Player Signature Course.

• Capturing the Castlewood Junior, a premier event at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton.

Rob and Kim presented Emily with the option of attending Stevenson during the summer. They left it up to her to decide if that was something she wanted to do. Emily had to first apply and pass a placement exam.

“If she hadn’t expressed much interest I think we would have just dropped it on the spot,” Rob Talley said. “We wanted to give her that opportunity — and she was excited about it.

“You obviously miss having her at home and she misses out on her senior year here. She was enthusiastic about it right from the start. I think it’s turning out just about as well as we could have expected. I think they certainly have the potential to win the state championship.”

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009