Boys’ golf: This Joe has got the game to match the name

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I was at Griffith Park on Wednesday for the City 6A League Invitational and bumped into North Hollywood assistant coach Andrew Lepore. Two years ago he was playing in the City finals. Now he’s back at his alma mater as a mentor.

When I asked Lepore who to watch out for this season, he told me North Hollywood’s Joe Boonnoppornkul (try saying that three times fast), who finished third at the City finals last year. Anyone with a name like that must have game, right?

Sure enough, four hours later the Huskies’ junior sat atop the leaderboard after carding a one-under par 71 on the Harding Course. In fact, he was three strokes, two vowels and two consonants better than his nearest competitor.

‘I played with Joe my senior year when he was only a freshman and his mental game is great,’ said Lepore, who twice qualified for the SoCal Regionals in high school. ‘He shoots in the 70-76 range and he’ll be a contender for the individual title for sure.’

Boonnoppornkul not only made good on his ex-teammates’ prediction, he also impressed Huskies’ head Coach Steve Miller.

‘If Joe shoots like he did today, he’s got a good chance to win City,’ Miller said of his top player. ‘As far as the team goes, though, I’d say we’re a long shot.’

Lepore is the top player on his team too ... at Glendale College, which revived its men’s program after a 25-year hiatus. Glendale is taking its lumps so far in the Western State Conference, but Lepore predicted next year ‘we’ll be really good.’

I predict you’ll be reading more about Joe ‘B’ this spring.

-- Steve Galluzzo

-- Image from www.inki.com