Carlsbad’s Lindley Fires a 74 to Blow Away Girls’ Golf Field

All season long, Leta Lindley of Carlsbad High has been saddled with the term, “Number one man.” Sure, as the best player at her school she’s entitled to the honor, but it still makes her wince.

All season, she has held her ground against male competition. On Monday, she finally took a shot at the girls.

It was worth the wait.

Lindley fired a three-over 74 to blow away the field in the California Interscholastic Federation/Southern California Golf Assn. finals at El Caballero Country Club.

Lindley, a senior who will play next season at Arizona, beat Lisa Kiggins of West Bakersfield--her next closest opponent--by four shots.

No other girl broke 80.

No sweat? Hardly.

“I hadn’t been hitting the ball real well coming into the tournament,” Lindley said. “I’d been working on my swing quite a bit.

“But I hit it so much better today. Things really came together at the right time.”

Lindley’s nine-hole rounds of 38-36 featured one birdie on each side.

Torrey Pines, with a five-man total of 412, finished fifth in the team competition, conducted in the morning.

Valhalla, the second team entry from the San Diego Section, finished eighth in the 10-team field at 425.

Central Section champion West Bakersfield, which shot 394, won the team title for the second consecutive year. Costa Mesa Estancia, the Southern Section champion, was second at 396.

Todd Demsey of Torrey Pines was the San Diego Section’s low individual in the boys’ competition with rounds of 77-77--154.

Austin Maki, a senior from Estancia who also will play next season at Arizona, defeated Jason Gore of Newhall Hart for the boys’ individual title. After blowing a three-shot lead into a one-shot deficit over the final four holes, Maki made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of the second round to force a sudden-death playoff.

Maki birdied the first hole, a 510-yard par-five, to win the title.

Chris Riley, the San Diego Section individual boys’ champion, shot 80 and did not qualify for the afternoon round.