All-Area Girls Golf: Buhach Colony’s Thao goes from beginner to best in 4 years

Steve Abrams said Sabrina Thao is an anomaly.

The Buhach Colony High School girls golf coach has had no shortage of players pick up the game as freshmen. Few, however, make the strides Thao did over four years.

After she averaged 57 strokes for nine holes as a freshman, Thao consistently whittled that average down to 43 in 2015. That was good for third-best in the Central California Conference and No. 1 in Merced County. The senior helped lead the Thunder to an unexpected tie for the CCC crown. The team fell three strokes shy of a trip to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters tournament.

The tremendous campaign earned Thao the title of Merced Sun-Star All-Area Girls Golfer of the Year.

“She’s definitely put in the work,” Abrams said. “I’ve had lots of kids come in as novices as freshmen and go through the motions for four years. They get better, but they don’t get 14 strokes off of their average in four years.

“Sabrina works extremely hard to better her game. She’s very disciplined and has the will to be at her best at all times. She’s a great kid, outstanding in the classroom and always very positive.”

As the college offers roll in, Thao laughs when she thinks about how close she came to never playing.

Every afternoon during the summer before her freshman year was spent exchanging shots with her father on a tennis court. Thao was set to try out for the Thunder tennis team when her dad threw her an unexpected curve.

No one who knows Thao was surprised by her dedication and constant improvement. The senior gives her all to everything she does.

She serves as babysitter and chauffeur to her younger siblings to help out her parents, who work full time. She participates in four after-school clubs – she is the president of two – and maintains a 4.0 GPA. What little free time Thao has is dedicated to the links.

“I practiced at the golf course every day during the summer from 7 (a.m.) to 12 (p.m.), perfecting my swing,” Thao said. “Honestly, this being my last year, we really wanted to just have as much fun as possible. We didn’t see the season we had coming.

“After we beat Turlock in our first league match, we started to realize what we could do. The CCC Championships didn’t go like we’d hoped, having to share the title with Turlock, but we’re all really proud of what we accomplished.

“I think the pressure finally caught up with us at the section tournament. I didn’t feel like I played very well, but as the scores came in, there was hope that we might move on. Missing the Masters cut by three strokes definitely hurt, but as Abrams said, we’re still the best girls golf team in school history.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 4:44 PM with the headline "All-Area Girls Golf: Buhach Colony’s Thao goes from beginner to best in 4 years."