San Diego Section Golf : Carlsbad Again Wins Team Title

For most high school golf teams, a red flag would go up when the No. 1 player on the team for three years suddenly drops to No. 3.

But the team at Carlsbad High cannot be compared with most.

Mike O’Leary, the Avocado League player of the year the last three years, dropped two slots his senior year, but his coach said he probably improved.

It just happened that teammates Pat Patterson and Mark Johnson were playing better.

That strength in the first three slots combined with depth at the other three positions gave Carlsbad its second straight San Diego Section team title Monday at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. The scores from the top five Carlsbad golfers combined for 379, the same as last year’s score on the 6,200-yard, par- 72 course. Patterson’s 72 was low for Carlsbad.

La Jolla finished second at 388 to advance along with Carlsbad to next week’s Southern California championships at the La Jolla Country Club.

O’Leary, who shot 76 Monday, said he wasn’t upset about the demotion. It happened because his average for nine holes (38.7) was higher than Patterson’s (37.0) and Johnson’s (37.5).

That attitude is a reflection of the team spirit the Lancers have.

“We have always been like a fraternity,” Coach Bob Fisher said. “Some teams have problems. But we’ve always had a lot of team spirit.”

Carlsbad hasn’t lost a league match in the 10 years Fisher has coached. Keeping that record going past 100--it is now at 106--became almost an obsession this season.

“There was a little pressure when it got to 100,” said Johnson, who shot 74. “No one wanted to be the one to break the streak.”

There was little doubt that the streak would survive 1988. With three players such as Patterson, Johnson and O’Leary, each of whom were medalists at least once, Carlsbad was tough to beat.

Fisher believes that those three will also contend for the individual championship, beginning today at Singing Hills Country Club. Their chief competition should come from defending champion Harry Rudolph of La Jolla, and Phil Mickelson, who had the low round Monday (69), and Manny Zerman both of University of San Diego High School.