THE TIMES 1995 SPRING ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Lee Stays on Course Despite Wreck : Golfer of the year: Senior helped Valencia win its first Southern Section team title.

Valencia’s John Lee didn’t waste any time making up for a disappointing junior season. In his first match, Lee shot five-under-par 32 for nine holes at Alta Vista Country Club.

About three weeks later, Lee was involved in a one-car accident on a rain-slicked freeway. It could have been much worse--his car spun out and hit the center divider--but Lee was soon feeling up to par--and often playing below it.

Lee, The Times Orange County golfer of the year, was especially outstanding when his team needed him.

In the team regional, he shot par 72 at El Toro Marine Base as the Tigers finished second to Santa Margarita and advanced to the Southern Section team championship for the first time in John Winek’s nine years as coach.

In the section championship, Lee again shot 72, in a driving rain at Sandpiper Golf Course in Goleta. It was the low round of the day and it helped Valencia win its first section team golf title.

“He’s done everything I hoped he would this year,” Winek said.

Last year after finishing second in the Orange League finals to Western’s Tiger Woods for the third consecutive season, Lee shot 79, missing the cut by three, at the section individual championships. “I didn’t want to go to practice or play,” said Lee, who plans to play at Saddleback College next year. “Maybe I was burned out.”

This time he was rested and ready. After finishing third in the league (teammates Bruce Campbell and James Wooley finished ahead of him), he shot 75 at the section individual finals, advancing to the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. championships, where he shot 73 and finished in a tie for 14th place.