Area teams dominate Burbank Tournament
BURBANK — Playing on his home course, Kelsey Danzeisen aggressively attacked each hole and built up his confidence.
It’s exactly what the Burroughs High boys’ golfer sought Wednesday while competing in the 48th annual Burbank High Schools’ Invitational at DeBell Golf Club.
“I started on the 10th hole and parred,” said Danzeisen, who shot a one-under-par 70 and finished second overall in the A Flight competition behind La Cañada’s Collin Morikawa (69). “I had to walk uphill on that hole with the cold weather.
“After that, my swinging got better and I was able to hit it straight. My comfort level was higher with each hole and it’s cool to do well on our home course.”
Danzeisen, who advanced to the Southern California Golf Assn. Regional Qualifier last season, finished with four birdies and 12 pars.
It proved to be a day of quality performances turned in by several area teams who participated in the 21-team tournament, one of the longest running high school events in the state.
La Cañada shot a 303 to win the tournament, followed by Alemany (314), St. Francis (316), Burroughs (335) and Crescenta Valley (345). South Torrance, which won the event the previous three years, carded a 349 to finish sixth. Johnny Brandt of St. Francis won the B Flight competition with a 77, followed by teammate Nathan Han (79) and Ben Park of Burbank (81). Joshua Suh of La Cañada was third in the A Flight with a 72. Alemany’s Teddy Papenthien took first in the C Flight with a 75.
Morikawa, a freshman, said he was also familiar with DeBell after playing in junior tournaments several years ago. He overcame a slow start in which he bogeyed two of his first three holes.
“It’s a short course, so I had to keep my irons straight and hit the ball down the middle onto the fairways,” Morikawa said. “After my first three holes, I knew it was still early in the round and there were a lot of holes left.
“I had seven birdies the rest of the way. After my second birdie, I knew I was confident I could do well. It’s pretty big to win this with that many high schools. It will boost my confidence.”
Like Morikawa, Brandt had some difficulties before regrouping on a course he played for the first time.
“I struggled a little bit on my first nine holes, but then I started to make some putts and birdies on the final nine holes,” Brandt said. “I started to find a rhythm and I just wanted to finish up playing a good round.
“This gives me confidence going into our [Mission League] matches.”
Crescenta Valley, which won the tournament four times between 2000-08 under Coach John Pehar, received an 80 from Paul Park and an 82 from Daniel Namkung.
Pehar said the Falcons will look to use Wednesday’s result to spark them for their remaining matches, starting with a nonleague match against La Cañada at 3 p.m. today at the La Cañada Country Club.
“We have a lot of matches coming up and I’d like to use this as a measuring stick for how we need to improve our play,” Pehar said. “In order to win this tournament, you need guys shooting in the 70s.”
Glendale, coached by Anthony Mohr, had four players compete and finished 20th with a 436. Samuel Do shot a 90 for Glendale.
Burbank did not have enough players to field a complete team.