Kevin Lim leads Sunny Hills to victory

On a day when it appeared that shooting two-under par would be a great accomplishment, senior Kevin Lim finished with a six-under 64 Thursday, beating his closest competitor by four shots and leading Fullerton Sunny Hills to the Southern Section-Toyota boys’ golf championship.

It marked the third section title in four years for the Lancers, who shot a team score of 359, beating runner-up Santa Barbara by seven strokes.

Since many of the participating teams had never played the course at Candlewood Country Club in Whittier, event organizers were not expecting to see many low scores.

Lim, however, surprised everyone, including himself.

“I thought I was going to have a bad day. My first drive ended up hitting a tree,” he said. “But I made up for it somehow. I only missed two greens all day, and all my birdie puts where inside 25 feet.”

Brea Olinda finished third at 368, followed by North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake at 372.

The four teams advance to the CIF/SCGA tournament on May 29 at the SCGA Members’ Course in Murrieta, the final qualifying tournament before the CIF state championships on June 3 at Santa Maria Country Club.

Despite their impressive four-year run, Sunny Hills has yet to play for the state title. That’s been the team’s driving force this season.

“That’s the next goal,” said Tim Devaney, the Lancers’ longtime coach. “That’s the goal that these kids all want.”

Alex Kim, who is headed to UCLA in the fall, shot 70. He and UC Irvine-bound Mike Im, who shot 73, have been with the program since they were freshmen.

Last season, the Lancers finished fourth at the CIF/SCGA tournament, four strokes behind Huntington Beach Edison, which went on to win the state title.

“We’ve had good teams for four years, but we’ve never had a team that’s good enough to go to the state finals,” said Kim, the team’s captain. “I believe this team is good enough. If we play well, I know we can win state.”

The season started in uncertainty as a replacement was needed for graduated senior Si Hwan Kim, who qualified for the state finals as an individual last spring.

Freshman Kristen Park, who shot 77 Thursday, and Lim, who transferred from Las Vegas, were the ones to step up.

Though new to Sunny Hills, Lim was no stranger to golf. He’s a top player on the junior circuit.

Lim and Kim were paired in a junior tournament two years ago and have been good friends since. Kim knew Lim would be an asset to this year’s team, but even he was surprised by Lim’s performance on Thursday.

“I wasn’t expecting a 64 or anything close to that,” Kim said. “But that’s how he is, he’s a very big part of the team.”

First year-Santa Barbara Coach James Vedard thought his team might have a shot at winning the section title when the scores started coming in, but those hopes were dashed once Lim’s score was posted.

“I thought 366 was going to be a solid score,” Vedard said. “But I can’t be any prouder of my guys, they played outstanding.”

Leading the way for Santa Barbara was senior Andrew Perez and Jack Perry, who each shot 71.

It was nerve-racking for Harvard-Westlake, which had to sweat it out until the very end, but Jeff Wibawa’s score of 68 – the day’s second-best mark – was enough to help the Wolverines edge Anaheim Servite by two strokes and advance to the next round.

“I was pulling out my hair waiting for the scores,” Wibawa said. “But I’m just glad we made it.”

 jaime.cardenas@latimes.com