PREP GOLF : Fullerton Sunny Hills Upsets Palm Desert to Win Section

Fullerton Sunny Hills High surprised two-time defending champion Palm Desert and won the Southern Section team golf title Monday.

All signs had pointed to another Palm Desert victory. The Aztecs had spent the previous night in their homes before making the short drive to the familiar 6,869-yard course at Canyon Country Club. Then they posted a score of 380, 17 strokes better than their section-title winning score two years ago on this course.

But Sunny Hills matched the 380 and won a one-hole playoff by a stroke when sixth man Matt Sims made a one-foot putt for a bogey.

Santa Barbara San Marcos finished third with 388, Long Beach Millikan fourth with 391. Anaheim Esperanza with 393, Loyola with 395 and Huntington Beach with 396 were the only other teams to break 400. The top four advanced to the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. tournament on June 6 at Redlands Country Club.

Five Palm Desert players shot below 80, led by senior Jeremy Whiting, who had a two-under-par 70. That tied him with Torrance junior Ted Oh and San Marcos junior Mike Berg for low round of the day.

Sunny Hills had four players under 80. Sophomore Terry Noe and freshman John Park each shot 72, freshman Jin Park 74 and Jenny Lee 79.

Sunny Hills put the pressure on immediately in the playoff. Park made a five-foot birdie putt on the 379-yard, par-four first hole, and Noe made par, putting the Lancers ahead by two.

Palm Desert got a stroke back in the second foursome when Bryan Geiberger, son of Senior PGA Tour player Al Geiberger, chipped in from the fringe for a birdie.

Kim and Palm Desert’s Nicole Dalkas each made par, and Palm Desert’s Chris Meyerson made a bogey, leaving Sims about a foot away for his winning putt.