CIF-SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GOLF ASSN. TOURNAMENT : Sunny Hills’ Lee Rallies to Knock Off Booth

With two holes to go in the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. individual girls’ championship Monday, Jenny Lee was in a tough spot.

Lee, a junior from Sunny Hills, was a stroke behind Santa Margarita’s Kellee Booth, the two-time defending CIF-SCGA champion and winner of the 1993 USGA Girls’ Championship.

Prime time for wilting? Not for Lee.

She made birdies on the final two holes at Redlands Country Club to finish with a one-over-par 74, one stroke ahead of Booth.

The two birdies completed Lee’s remarkable comeback. After falling as many as four shots back on the front nine, she shot four-under 33 on the back.

Lee’s score is even more impressive because she played 36 holes Monday, also playing in the morning team competition.

In the morning, she shot seven-over 77 from the boys’ tees to help Sunny Hills, the Southern Section champion, finish fifth with a 392 total.

Palm Desert, which lost a playoff to Sunny Hills for the section title two weeks ago, won with 376. Five Palm Desert players shot at least 78. Runner-up Poway had 380.

Poway’s Charley Hoffman won the boys’ title, shooting two-under 68, three strokes better than second-place Ryan King of Vista Rancho Buena Vista and third-place Jeremy Whiting of Palm Desert.

Tustin’s Jimmy Lee, the top Orange County finisher, was fourth by matching cards with six others after shooting 73.

With four holes remaining, Lee was one-under. But he finished with a double-bogey, two bogeys and a par.

Santa Margarita’s Ben Bost, Esperanza’s Chris Berry and Sunny Hills’ Jin Park each shot 74 and were in an eight-way tie for 10th. Sunny Hills’ Terry Noe shot 75.

Those scores were low for Sunny Hills in the team competition; four Lancers shot 77 or better.

Sunny Hills Coach Tim Devaney said he believed a score of about 390 would put a team in the running for the title. The course, although short at par 70 and 6,276 yards from the boys’ tees, is tight and the greens are large and fast. As it turned out, four teams broke 390 and seven of the 10 broke 400.

“The fact that (Palm Desert) shot 376 . . . that’s a good score,” Devaney said.

After a break of about an hour, Jenny Lee, the only girl to play in the morning, teed off with three fresh players. “I was tired on the front nine,” she said. “I couldn’t even walk.”

But Lee said she was rejuvenated on the par-5 ninth hole when her 50-foot eagle attempt stopped next to the cup. After she tapped in for birdie, she was only three shots behind Booth.

Lee, a South Korea native who moved to Fullerton from Hawaii in November, caught Booth on the 17th with a nine-foot birdie putt. Booth’s eight-footer nicked the lip of the hole.

“I had confidence,” Lee said. “I feel like I can make any putts. Just hit them.”

On the par-5 18th, Lee hit her second shot about 18 feet from the flag and two-putted for birdie. Booth hit her second to the back rough, chipped 15 feet short and missed the birdie putt.

Booth, a senior who will play for Arizona State next fall, said it was a good battle.

“I love competition,” Booth said. “It’s basically why I play. It’s just annoying when you’re missing putts and she’s making them.”

Notes

Southern Section champion Tiger Woods of Western did not compete because he was playing a practice round for the PGA Tour event that starts Thursday in Rye, N.Y. . . . In the boys’ individual, Servite’s Jeff McGraw shot 76, Corona del Mar’s Bill Sarracino and Huntington Beach’s Greg Uberuaga had 81s and Trabuco Hills’ Kevin Rogers shot 82. . . . Corona del Mar’s Jenny Glasgow shot 83 in the girls’ individual.