Santa Margarita Is Pushed but Still Wins

The South Coast Regional team golf tournament is usually little more than a practice round for the Santa Margarita golf team. But the Eagles were actually paying attention to the scoreboard toward the end of Monday’s tournament at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel.

It wasn’t until junior Ryan Dwight posted his 81 that Santa Margarita finally won its fifth consecutive regional title with a team score of 31-over-par 391.

University was second (394), Servite third (395) and Mission Viejo (403) finished a stroke ahead of South Coast League champion San Clemente for the final qualifying spot in the Southern Section team final Thursday at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs.

“This is the first time in a long while that we’ve really been worried about just finishing in the top four,” Santa Margarita Coach Tim O’Hara said. “Three teams in this field have beaten us this year. Normally we play teams that we’ve beaten easily.”

The Eagles received a key contribution from freshman Dave Hawkins, who shot four-over 76 playing in the No. 6 spot. Hawkins had a good chance to be the medalist, but he triple-bogeyed his last hole, No. 12, a 524-yard par five.

“I three-putted the last hole from five feet,” Hawkins said. “I hit a bad second shot that put me in a bad position, so I ended up tripling the hole.”

Medalist honors were shared by University’s Brian Sinay, Servite’s Nicholas Bollini and Mission Viejo’s Vince Poncino, who each shot 74 on the 6,629-yard course. In addition to Hawkins, El Toro’s Donald Rhee and University’s Ron Won shot 76.

Santa Margarita also received a strong performance from Steve Conway, who shot 77 playing in the No. 4 position. The Eagles’ top two players, Jimmy Dunn and Jimmy Pittenger, shot 79 and 78, respectively.

“It seems like the last few years we’ve always had our four, five, six guys play well, so that helps,” O’Hara said. “Some of our better guys didn’t shoot well today, like Dunn, he was a little high.”

Mission Viejo was the biggest surprise. San Clemente, Corona del Mar and El Toro were expected to challenge for the final qualifying spot, but Poncino’s score and teammate Brett Armstrong’s 77 lifted Mission Viejo over the Tritons.

Corona del Mar finished sixth (408), Dana Hills was seventh (409) and El Toro and Aliso Niguel tied for eighth (411).