Long Chip Leaves Kohut Just Short

Westlake High’s J.T. Kohut didn’t know it at the time, but with an easy par on his final hole, he would have won a share of the Southern Section boys’ individual golf title.

Kohut, however, was going for more and his bogey Friday at Canyon Country Club left him at two-under-par 70, one stroke behind champion Brian Sinay of Irvine University.

“I didn’t know,” Kohut said when asked whether he thought three-under was a winning score, “but I thought four-under would win it.”

Kohut came close to that. His chip with his putter from the rough behind the 12th green--his final hole--jumped straight up from a depression and missed hitting the flagstick by about an inch. The ball rolled 10 feet past the hole and Kohut missed the putt.

“I was happy about the whole day,” said Kohut, a sophomore. “The last hole I’m not too happy with, but that’s just the way it is. It all evens out.”

It was a day for patience and perseverance in the desert. With temperatures pushing 110 degrees, 143 of the section’s finest golfers labored through six-hour rounds.

Two players with experience on the PGA Tour appeared ready to take command.

Culver City junior John Ray Leary, who played in the Buick Invitational in February, got as low as five-under before losing five strokes to par on his final four holes.

Fullerton Sunny Hills senior Jin Park, who played in the 1996 Nissan Open, had three birdies in his first five holes but finished with a 71.

Kohut was one of three players from the region to advance to the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. Championship on Tuesday at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta. Chuck Ruiz of Alemany shot 73 and Russell Surber of Flintridge Prep shot 75 and won a 12-way playoff for the final qualifying spot.

Surber chipped in from the fringe for a birdie on the second extra hole to win the playoff.