Rio Communities women’s golf reports busy month, awards scholarships

Rio Communities golf has turned into more than a scorecard this spring. At Tierra del Sol Golf Club, the Women’s Golf Association closed out a busy May with tournament play, recurring weekly action and its first two $500 scholarships for Belen High School golfers, a sign that the club’s calendar is reaching beyond the fairways and into youth opportunity.

The month’s biggest on-course storyline belonged to Berta Murzyn, who finished May with seven birdies and three chip-ins. She also helped win the May 6 scramble with Marilyn Winters, Anna Martinez and Fran Griffeth, one of several events that kept the WGA moving through the middle of its season. The association had started its 2026 schedule on March 4 with a scramble, then added a Partner Best Ball Challenge on April 15 and a Pro-Am Tournament on April 29 before rolling into May’s heavier stretch of play.

That steady schedule matters in a place like Rio Communities, where Tierra del Sol has been part of local recreation since it became operational in 1968. Area ladies formed the Women’s Golf Association a couple of years later, and Barbara Romero won the first Club Championship in 1972. More than five decades later, the group is still building a homegrown golf culture that gives Valencia County women regular competition and keeps local events close to home.

The WGA’s scholarship awards made that community role even clearer. On May 27 at the Belen High School Golf Banquet, the association awarded scholarships to Dalton Herschberger and Eli O’Canna, both graduates, and said it hopes to make the award annual and open to both male and female golfers. That link to Belen High School lands at a practical moment for the county, where strong school sports can shape whether young athletes stay in the game and keep competing after graduation.

The scholarship decision also connects with a Belen program that has remained competitive. Golf coach Donald Marquez said Eli O’Canna was one of the Eagles’ leading players in spring 2026, and earlier coverage said the boys team was still in the hunt even after the departures of recent state champions Grady Cox and Rylee Salome. In that context, the WGA’s $500 awards look less like a banquet extra and more like a direct investment in the next wave of local players.

The Women’s Golf Association is not slowing down. The President’s Cup was set for Wednesday, June 24, and golfers interested in joining were given contact information, keeping the club’s membership door open as the season reaches its midpoint.