Palm Desert Wins Title, SCGA Finals Next

The Palm Desert High golf team won the Southern Section team championships for the second time in four years Thursday at Canyon Country Club.

Palm Desert won by six shots, shooting eight-over 368 on the par-72 course. Long Beach Wilson (374) finished second, with Irvine University (375) and Fountain Valley (378) rounding out the top four, which qualify for the Southern California Golf Assn. team finals June 2 at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta.

“No one has won both the [Southern Section] and SCGA titles in the same year,” Palm Desert Coach Tim Kabeary said. “It’s something to shoot for.

“We hadn’t won this since 1994, so it was nice for this group of seniors. They were very focused.”

And talented.

Kabeary said he had 12 players on the roster who broke par this season. And two of his players--Chris Lawson and Lee Weissman--who qualified for next week’s Southern Section Southern Region individual tournament by finishing in the top five of the Desert Valley League finals--didn’t play for the Aztecs on Thursday. The pair didn’t score low enough in the team’s own qualifying round to earn starting spots.

Mike Beard shot one-under 71 to lead Palm Desert and Brett Bockmann shot 72.

Wilson finished second with all five of its players shooting 77 or better, including 74s by John Merrick and Kelly Williams.

The co-medalists were Palos Verdes Peninsula’s Jun Lee and Hart’s Charlie Smith at 69.

“With the great conditions like today, it was whoever was putting well would score well,” said Smith, who will play at UCLA next season.

Smith made two birdies with long putts, one a 50-footer on the 434-yard par-four third hole and another with a 40-footer on the 389-yard par-four eighth.

Defending champion San Marcos finished tied for 11th at 392. Santa Margarita, which won the SCGA title last season, finished tied for sixth with Hart at 384.