Wong, Taft Waltz to City Section Golf Titles

Take it from the guy who won the City Section individual golf title Wednesday, it didn’t take his best effort to walk away with the first-place trophy. In fact, it took very little effort at all.

Eagle Rock High’s Gerald Wong shredded the field at Griffith Park’s Wilson Course with a round of 75, then shredded the field in the clubhouse.

“I played decent, about average,” said Wong, whose two-round total of 145 was 11 shots better than his nearest competitor. “The L. A. City Section is totally weak.”

Case in point: Taft’s victory in the team competition was less than overpowering but it produced the school’s eighth title and second in three years. Taft finished at 835 after limping in with a second-round 427, outlasting Eagle Rock (408-439--847).

No Taft player broke 84 Wednesday and the 5-A League champions barely held off Eagle Rock, an entry from the 3-A League. It was nearly an upset of major proportions--last season, El Camino Real of the 4-A League was the first team below the 5-A level to win the team title.

“If Eagle Rock could have dug one more kid out of the woodwork, we’d have been in real trouble,” Taft Coach Ray O’Connor said.

Taft was in trouble, nonetheless, until Eagle Rock’s No. 5 man, Mike Messner, finished with a 99 after hitting two balls out of bounds on the 18th hole.

With four players from each team in the clubhouse, Taft trailed Eagle Rock by 13 shots. The Toreadors were bailed out, however, by junior Chad Persons (84) and freshman Sheldon Mink (89), and were able to throw out the score of No. 1 man Jim Venetos, who shot 91.

Wong, one of only three players to break 80 in the second round, had the title all but wrapped up after the front nine. After bogeying two of the first three holes, Wong pulled away from Cameron Broumand of Palisades and Tony Bordwell of El Camino Real with pars on the seventh and eighth holes.

Broumand, who had cut Wong’s lead to two shots after six holes, bogeyed seven and eight and eventually finished second overall at 73-83--156. Bordwell, a junior, bogeyed seven, double-bogeyed eight and finished fourth at 77-83--160.

“I basically knew it was over after nine holes today,” said Wong, who completed a City sweep of sorts. Last month, Wong won the L. A. City Junior title with rounds of 68 and 71 over the same courses. “I was just trying to play well for the team, because it was about all the incentive I had.”

Bordwell made a late run at Broumand for second, but triple-bogeyed the par-four 17th and shot 43 on the back nine.

Despite a battle with the flu, freshman Ryan White had the most consistent performance for Taft, shooting 77-85--162 to finish fifth. White is one of six underclassmen for Taft, which bodes well for the future, if not necessarily the present, O’Connor acknowledged.

“It was gratifying that we could win it with guys this young,” O’Connor said. “It looks like there’s a very good future for Taft golf.”

Taft and Eagle Rock advance to the Southern California regionals on June 12 at Bakersfield Country Club. Granada Hills finished third (427-438--865), followed by University (438-437--875) and defending champion El Camino Real (442-472--914).

Darrin Evans of Kennedy had the third-best round of the day at 79 and finished in a tie for 11th individually with teammate Mark Ridel at 169. Evans and Ridel are among a group of 16 golfers who will battle Monday at Bel Air Country Club for one of 10 berths in the Southern California regional.