Nordhoff Rises When Hart Falls

The Nordhoff High golf team came to the DeBell tournament looking for some respect. Hart junior Charlie Smith came in search of a cure for his recent putting problems.

Both came to the right place.

Nordhoff, led by junior Jeff Coburn’s even-par 71, surprised the 20-team field by shooting a 310 to take the team title.

Smith, using a new putter, took individual honors by shooting a 69.

Nordhoff is not the first name that comes to mind in a discussion of the top high school golf teams.

Even though Thursday’s victory came against depleted teams from area powers Westlake and Alemany and was helped by Hart’s disqualification, finishing ahead of strong teams from Notre Dame and Flintridge Prep can’t be overlooked.

“This is big for us,” said Coburn, who finished second to Smith. “It shows we’re really climbing up there.”

The Rangers have played in the DeBell tournament for the last 15 years and Coach Dick Sebek said their best finish was “maybe top 10.”

But with a team that goes 10 players deep, this year’s squad may make some more noise before the season is over.

“We’ve got three guys who are all capable of winning medalist honors every time out there,” Sebek said. “And our sixth, seventh and eighth players are constantly pushing the top guys.”

For Smith, who three-putted 10 times over two rounds in last weekend’s L.A. City Junior Championships and missed the cut, the victory was bittersweet.

He bought a new putter and spent two hours on the practice green, then did not three-putt in Thursday’s round.

He made birdie putts of 20 feet on the 14th hole and seven feet on Nos. 7 and 10 en route to the best-ever score by a Hart player at DeBell.

“I wasn’t feeling yippie over my putts,” Smith said. “It was just a good putting day. I’ve never liked this course but I kept a positive mind. I convinced myself that I could play out here.”

But Smith was disappointed about his team’s disqualification. Defending champion Hart would have won easily if not for a miscue by junior Adrian Tan.

Tan thought he hit his tee shot into a hazard at the 278-yard, par-4 12th hole. He dropped a ball and played out the hole.

But Tan’s playing partners informed him that the ball was out of bounds and he dropped illegally. Golf rules state that a ball hit out of bounds must be replayed from its original location.

After Tan confirmed the out-of-bounds ruling with Smith, he disqualified himself, and his team.

Hart would have finished at 300 with Tan’s 78 but could not replace the score because tournament rules specify that schools identify four players to determine the team score prior to the tournament.

“You gotta go by the rules,” Smith said. “It’s too bad, but I would feel worse if we shot a 300 with an illegal score.”

Flintridge Prep junior Russell Surber tied with Coburn and Dustin Keen of Riverside J.W. North at 71. Surber was awarded fourth place based on tiebreaking procedures.

Surber’s Flintridge Prep team, the 1995 champion, finished second at 321. Notre Dame took third at 327 even though freshman Tommy Barber shot a team-best 75 that couldn’t be used because he wasn’t identified by his coach as one of the four scoring players.