Lee’s Course Change Points Irvine in the Right Direction

Talking to Stella Lee, it’s hard to believe someone so bashful and reserved could make so much noise.

But the Irvine High junior has taken Orange County girls’ golf by storm since transferring from Cerritos Gahr before the school year began.

Lee, who immigrated from South Korea with no golf experience three years ago, is averaging 35.6 for nine holes for the Vaqueros and has helped transformed Irvine from an also-ran to a Sea View League title contender.

Lee, 16, is one of only two county players to shoot below par in a regulation match on a championship course--a feat she has accomplished twice.

The first time was a one-under-par 35 two weeks ago at Oak Creek in Irvine. Last week, she blistered the same 2,882-yard front nine with a bogey-free, three-under 33. She missed two birdie putts during that round.

She also has four rounds of par during this season, but longs to break out in an 18-hole event.

“I never broke par for 18 holes,” Lee said. “Only one over or two over.”

Give her time.

She has improved steadily since taking up the game 2 1/2 years ago, shooting 77 and finishing 12th at the CIF-WSCGA championship last June. No county player had a better score.

She averages 230 yards off the tee and possesses a precise iron game. Her high quality play and dedicated work ethic have rubbed off on Nina Nam and Sunny Yoo, the No. 2 and 3 players for Irvine, which averaged about 20-25 strokes higher last year.

“The other kids are feeding off her game,” said Gary DeBeaubien, an Irvine co-coach. “They can see how she concentrates on all parts of her game. When she practices and does her work, it shows the other girls what it takes to be successful in golf.”

The most recent manifestation of that came Monday in the Newport Harbor tournament at Newport Beach Golf Course. Lee shot par 29 to lead the unranked Vaqueros to first place in a 20-team field that included No. 3 Villa Park, No. 4 Marina and No. 7 Newport Harbor.

“They have a real good player over there and the other girls are catching fire,” Newport Harbor Coach Jim Warren said. “Look out for them.”

Strangely, Irvine coaches were not aware that Lee would be enrolling at Irvine.

Co-Coach Al Herring said they read about her in The Times, but couldn’t find her registration materials.

“We were going room to room looking for her,” Herring quipped. “We wanted to make sure she knew about the team.”

Turns out Lee had registered under her Korean name.

“We knew she was there, we just had to find her,” DeBeaubien said. “No one knew where she was.”

Now it’s easy to find Lee, who won an SCPGA junior cup series event over the summer and finished 13th in her first AJGA event.

She’s usually somewhere near the top of the leaderboard.

MARINA CAUGHT SHORT

The race for the Sunset League title took an interesting turn last week when Marina had to forfeit a match against Esperanza in a battle between two of the three league favorites.

Marina’s DeAnna Rungo, who had flu symptoms, had to withdraw from the match on the fourth hole because of dehydration.

With No. 4 player Sara Northcut excused from the match for personal reasons, Viking Coach Frank Ruotolo decided to go with three players in the best-three-of-four score format. But when Rungo pulled out, the Vikings were left with a loss.

“I thought we could handle it with three players,” Ruotolo said. “But it’s Murphy’s Law. Next time I’ll know to carry that extra player.”

Esperanza, ranked No. 6 in Orange County, is 5-0 and leads the tight Sunset League by virtue of the forfeit and a one-shot victory over Los Alamitos.

No. 4 Marina is 4-1 and No. 8 Los Alamitos is 3-2 after a 122-126 Viking victory on Tuesday.

A PLAYOFF PREVIEW

The Newport Harbor tournament is a good barometer of how far girls’ golf has come in the last few years.

One of the first girls-only tournaments when it began in 1996, the scores have improved dramatically.

Marina’s Goebel defended her individual title by shooting one-under-par 28, the first sub-par score in the tournament.

“The first year most of the girls were trying to break 50,” Newport Harbor Coach Jim Warren said. “Now, some of them are shooting in the high 20s.”

It started as a fun way to publicize girls’ golf, but, because of the stroke-play format and large field, it has built a reputation as a playoff preview.

“The competition level is way up,” Warren said. “There is always a crowd around the leaderboard constantly looking for updates. It’s really serious now. This tournament really represents what it will be like at CIF as far as intensity and the pressure.”

SECTION SETS PLAYOFF DATES

Southern Section playoff dates and locations have been set. Most qualifying Orange County teams will play in the South regional Nov. 9 at Los Serranos in Chino Hills beginning at 9:45 a.m.

There are three regionals this year, up from two last year. The North regional at Santa Barbara Golf Club and the Central at Soboba Springs Royal Vista in San Jacinto are Nov. 8 at 10 a.m.

The team finals are Nov. 15 at Temeku Hills in Temecula with a 9:45 a.m. shotgun start. The individual finals are Nov. 16 at Mission Lake in Desert Hot Springs at 8 a.m. There are no individual regionals.

The top two teams from each league qualify for regionals. Third-place teams can also qualify but must meet the minimum standard of six nine-hole scores of 155 or better on a par-36 course during the regular season.

The top two individuals from each league qualify for the individual finals. The CIF-WSCGA finals are Nov. 30 at the SCGA Members’ Club in Temecula.

If you have an item or idea for the girls’ golf report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at peter.yoon@latimes.com