Low Expectations : Granada Hills Underdog Again in SoCal Golf Championships

Coach Joe White doesn’t expect too much from the Granada Hills High boys’ team in the Southern California Golf Assn. championships today. Then again, his players have pleasantly surprised him all season.

A dominant team in previous years, the Highlanders were expected to come back to the pack without three-time City individual champion Darren Angel, who completed his eligibility last year.

It didn’t happen. Granada Hills won its fourth consecutive City Section title last month and today the Highlanders are in the 10-team field competing for the Southern California high school championship.

Grant, runner-up from the City Section, and Westlake, the third-place finisher in the Southern Section, also are competing in the boys’ tournament, which begins at 7:30 a.m. at the SCGA Players Club in Murrieta, Calif. The team tournament will run simultaneously with a 112-player individual tournament.

The girls’ individual tournament--there is no team competition--begins at 1:30 p.m.

Only a few months ago, Granada Hills was considered a longshot to qualify for the tournament. Angel’s graduation alone was considered enough to reduce the Highlanders from their status as a perennial powerhouse.

Graduation took Angel and two other starters out of the Highlander lineup. Then Joe Daugherty, a mid-70s golfer who was expected to be the Highlanders’ No. 2 player, left school during the fall.

Further weakening the Highlanders, Brian Vranesh, another mid-70s shooter who was expected to play at No. 1, was placed on academic probation and missed most of the season.

Without Daugherty and Vranesh, the Highlanders were left with only two golfers with varsity experience--Ben Krug and Chris Penman.

“I didn’t think we were going to win at all,” said Vranesh, who regained his eligibility just prior to the team’s last regular-season match. “I figured if they didn’t have [Daugherty’s and my] scores, they wouldn’t win.”

Foreign exchange student Rikard Samuelsson of Sweden filled one roster spot and freshmen Darrin Schneider and Julie Park, the first girl on a Granada Hills team in five years, stepped into key roles.

The Highlanders lost to Grant in their second match of the season, adding to the speculation that the reign of Granada Hills was over.

“When the school year started, we thought everything was going to go just all smooth,” said Vranesh, the only member of all four section championship teams.

“Then Joe [left school], I found out I was ineligible, people weren’t shooting very good scores. I got a little worried. But after the loss to Grant they got it in their heads that they’re going to have to play some golf to win.”

What followed was a string of 15 consecutive victories.

Vranesh regained his eligibility early in May, just in time for the 5-A League tournament, a steppingstone to the City Section championships. But Vranesh didn’t regain his form of last year and has yet to break 80 in five matches this season.

In the 5-A league tournament, the Highlanders stumbled, finishing third behind Chatsworth and Grant. That rekindled thoughts that the City Section championship might be up for grabs. But Granada Hills rallied again.

“All these little things that have happened have helped us more than they did anything bad . . .” said Krug, the team captain. Maybe the problems were there to help us all.”

Krug, the team’s No. 4 golfer a year ago, took several strokes off his average and jumped to the No. 1 spot. He finished second behind Kevin Bodlovich of San Pedro in the City Section individual tournament.

Samuelsson turned out to be a pleasant surprise, consistently shooting in the 75-80 range. Park, who won the City Section girls’ championship, and Schneider gave the Highlanders depth at the Nos. 4 and 5 spots by shooting in the low 80s. Penman, who struggled in the high-80s most of the year, also had some rounds in the 70s.

The success of the team was a result of its ability to get enough of its players, any players, in the low end of their capabilities.

“Last year we got a good eight-to-10 shots with [Angel],” Penman said. “This year everybody had to count on each other because we knew it wasn’t one guy that we could always depend on. Some days certain people would come up big and other days it was someone else.”

Indeed, Granada Hills had five different medalists this season.

“People wanted to play good,” Krug said. “When you have talent that wants to play and has the desire to reach down and dig a little bit that’s all it takes, and that’s what Granada had.”

Added Vranesh: “We’re all pretty close so it’s a lot more laid back and easier to play. But the strength of the team is that everyone out here wants to shoot the lowest score.”

Granada Hills players know they are not among the favorites to win the SCGA championships. The best the Highlanders finished in the tournament, even with Angel, was seventh.

“We have a good team,” White said, “but nothing compared to what’s going to be down there.”

A City Section team hasn’t won an SCGA title since Palisades did it in 1973.

At the very least Granada Hills is used to its role as underdog.

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Southern California Golf Assn. Championships

* When: Today

* Time: 7:30 a.m. (Team and Boys Individual); 1:30 p.m. (Girls Individual)

* Site: SCGA Players Club in Murrieta

* Admission: Free

* Directions: From I-15 or I-215, exit at Murrieta Hot Springs Road. Go east to Via Princessa (approximately 3 miles east of I-215). Go left. Club entrance is on right.