Santa Margarita’s Best Not Good Enough

Santa Margarita, probably Orange County’s best golf team ever, came up short Thursday at the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. Championships, but it took an amazing score to beat the Eagles.

Westlake Village Westlake’s top five golfers posted a nine-over-par 369 at the SCGA Members’ Club at Rancho California, edging Santa Margarita by one stroke. Westlake’s total matched the second-lowest score in the history of the tournament, surpassed only by Westlake’s 1987 team that shot two-over 362 at North Ranch Country Club.

The Eagles came agonizingly close Thursday. Three players--junior Kelly Craig (one-under 71), senior Greg Pittenger (72) and junior Nate Blauer (73) were outstanding. Steve Wagner, the Eagles’ top player, faltered a bit and shot 76 and their final scoring player, junior Nick Fritz, shot 78.

Craig, the only Orange County player to break par, finished third in the boys’ individual championship, after matching cards with five players who also shot 71. Hemet’s James Donahoe shot three-under 69 to beat runner-up Michael Chavez of Santa Barbara San Marcos by one stroke.

In the girls’ competition, Woodbridge’s Yon Yim, the Southern Section champion, and Foothill’s Julia Allison each shot 76 to finish in a tie for seventh. Andrea Cordova of Clovis West won the title with a 72.

It was a disheartening finish for Santa Margarita, which won the Southern Section title and was attempting to become the first Southern Section champion to win this event since Westlake’s record round in 1987.

Each player could point to a shot he would like to have back. “The guys who played good think they could have had another birdie,” Wagner said. “And the guy who played OK know there were some pars we could have gritted out.”

Wagner said he was never comfortable putting. Craig got to two-under with five holes to go, but bogeyed the next two holes before recovering with a birdie. Craig said played well but missed too many birdie putts. “If I would have putted good,” he said, “it would have been ridiculous.”

Santa Margarita Coach Tim O’Hara said his team was taking it hard.

“I’m sure the guys are going to be thinking of this shot and that shot for two months,” O’Hara said. “The guys are hurting. But I told them, ‘You guys finished second in state and you shot a good score.’

“Our three rounds of the postseason were 369, 370 and 370. Too bad it’s not a three-day tournament.”

Sunny Hills, the other Orange County team in the field, had even more cause for disappointment. Terry Noe, one of Sunny Hills’ best players, was a no-show, so the Lancers had to play a man down.

Their five scores--Jin Park (72), Dusty Schmidt (74), John Park (75), Mike Kim (76) and Philip Lee (79)--were strong enough for fourth, but with Noe, the Lancers might have won.

Noe, the 1994 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, played in U.S. Open qualifying Monday in Daly City, Calif., but decided to skip Thursday’s high school competition to attend class. Sunny Hills’ final exams start today. Noe is a senior.

Noe’s absence caught his teammates by surprise. “I don’t know what he’s doing,” Jin Park said. “I’m just surprised he’s not here.”

Park held together well on the course, hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, but was plagued by an erratic putter. “The longest putt I made,” he said, “was from about four feet.”

Lee, a sophomore who had shot 72 in the Lancers’ last two postseason events, also had trouble on the greens; his 79 included eight three-putts.

Notes

Other county players in the boys’ individual competition were: Los Alamitos’ Jason Beach (74); University’s Bill Bodensteiner (74); Servite’s Adam Ainbinder (75); Foothill’s Nick Seymour (78); Huntington Beach’s Chris Wilson (79), and Brea Olinda’s Anthony Eliason (93). County girls included: Fountain Valley’s Cande Kung (77); Mission Viejo’s Carla Legaspi (79); Brea Olinda’s Lisa Costello (79); Aliso Viejo’s Robin O’Brien (85); Corona del Mar’s McKenna Glasgow (87); Mission Viejo’s Brianna Keilar (88); Corona del Mar’s Catherine Martin (89), and Capistrano Valley’s Jennifer Tunzi (89).