Hart, Westlake Tie for 4th Although Big Guns Misfire

The 1999 high school golf season came to a good--but not great--conclusion for the Hart and Westlake boys’ teams in the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. Championships at the SCGA Members’ Club on Tuesday.

Hart and Westlake, the top two programs in the region during the 1990s, tied for fourth with a 384 total in the tournament that included the top four teams from the Southern Section and the top two teams from the City, San Diego and Central sections of the CIF.

San Marcos totaled a 10-over-par 370 to win its second title in three years, followed by Servite with 373 and Bonita Vista with 375.

Palisades, City Section champion, was sixth with 386, followed by Clovis West with 388, Rancho Bernardo with 393, Mt. Whitney with 395 and Granada Hills with 405.

“It’s pretty impressive what we did,” senior Ryan Wyman of Hart said. “But we could have shot better today. A couple of our young guys shot well, but Jeff [Siembieda] and I didn’t shoot as well as we could have. . . .

“I just couldn’t get a putt to drop. I hit 14 greens but I couldn’t get one putt. I had a couple of putts that I thought I had, but they lipped out.”

Coach Dave Costley of Westlake was frustrated about the way the Warriors played.

“We’re disappointed,” he said. “We could have shot better. It’s one thing to shoot well and get beat. It’s another to not shoot well.”

Sophomore Andy Smith shot a three-over-par 75 for Hart, followed by freshman Brian Edick and senior Mark Lauver at 76, Wyman at 78 and senior Siembieda at 79.

Senior Ian Medlock led Westlake with a 72, followed by senior Chris Darnell at 74, senior J.T. Kohut at 77, sophomore Lee Krieger at 80 and sophomore Brian O’Flaherty at 81.

Darnell missed most of the season after injuring his wrist while involved in some horseplay at school.

John Huppert and Kuu Sin each shot a 78 for Granada Hills.

The course was buffeted by wind gusts of up to 30 mph for much of the afternoon, but Costley and Coach Dennis Ford of Hart said that had little to do with the play of their teams.

“The wind [at the Southern Section championships at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc] was much worse than this,” Costley said. “This was nothing compared to that.”

Ford concurred.

“We can play in wind,” he said. “We play in the wind all the time.”

Westlake, which was making its first appearance in the CIF-SCGA tournament since winning it in 1996, got off to a rocky start when Kohut bogeyed his first four holes and O’Flaherty was four over after five.

Hart was making its first appearance in the tournament since 1975, but the Indians didn’t let that intimidate them.

“We thought we could win,” Wyman said. “We felt we were capable of doing that.”

San Marcos had five players shoot 76 or better, topped by George Downing’s 72.