San Diego Section Golf Championship : La Jolla’s Rudolph Wins Despite Suckling’s Round

After he birdied four of the first 11 holes to take a five-shot lead in the final round of the CIF San Diego Section golf championship Wednesday, Harry Rudolph still had a little game left to play. Call it beat the course.

“I just didn’t want to do anything dumb and give anybody a chance to catch up,” Rudolph said.

Over the final seven holes of the Oak Glen course at the Singing Hills Country Club, Rudolph battled before finally holding on for a three-shot victory and the individual title.

Rudolph, a sophomore at La Jolla High School, finished with a one-under-par 70 to go along with his first-round 71. His total of 141 was enough to beat Torrey Pines’ Mike Suckling, who shot a tournament-low round of 69 Wednesday to finish at 144, three shots back.

“I played some of my best golf in a long time on those first 11 holes,” said Rudolph, who rolled in birdie putts at Nos. 3, 7, 9 and 11 to go four under for the tournament.

But, after that?

“I thought he played it right,” said Gene Edwards, Rudolph’s coach at La Jolla. “When you have a big lead like that, you make everyone else take the chances.”

Rudolph bogeyed No. 13 to drop to three under before steadying himself with a par at No. 14.

On the par-4 15th, the course struck back. Rudolph’s tee shot was right off the fairway and 100 yards from the hole behind a bunker. Rudolph tried to clear the bunker with a 9-iron and it appeared his shot would be a dandy. But his ball hit a branch of a tree and dropped in front of the green. He scrambled for bogey to fall to two under.

On the par-4 16th, Rudolph missed the green with his approach shot, chipped to eight feet and missed the putt. Suddenly, his lead was cut to two strokes.

“I didn’t ever feel it slipping away, but I knew I had to steady myself,” Rudolph said.

An approach shot to within 15 feet of the hole on 17 led to a par, and a four-foot downhill putt on 18 gave him another to clinch the title.

Rudolph led by one shot heading into the final round and had his closest competitors fall while he shot a three-under 32 on the front nine. Only Suckling, playing three groups ahead of Rudolph, was causing any commotion. But Suckling’s challenge also fell when he when he bogeyed 16 and 17.

“Harry has been one of our steadiest golfers all year long,” Edwards said. “The thing about him is that he always seems to play up to his competition. In all of our matches this year, he would shoot just low enough to beat the other team’s best golfer.

“He came out to this tournament knowing he would have to put two good rounds together, and he went out and did it.”