Match Play
When Tim O’Hara called an informal meeting last fall to determine the number of players he would have out for the Santa Margarita golf team, he had no idea what he was in for.
The room filled to capacity, then overflowed. It seems the number of interested golfers was quite a bit higher than Coach O’Hara had anticipated.
“They just kept coming in,” O’Hara said. “It was unbelievable. I think we had about 80 kids show up.”
A perennial county power, Santa Margarita already has five of its top six players returning, including Steve Conway, an all-county selection who has signed with UCLA.
To O’Hara, all the extra bodies added up to one thing.
“This could be the best team ever at Santa Margarita,” he said.
Quite a statement about a team that in 13 years has won two CIF-SCGA titles, a Southern Section crown as well as a league title every year it has been in a league.
Surely the Eagles are a lock for another league title, right? Not so fast.
Santa Margarita is one of the top teams in Orange County, the Southern Section and perhaps the state. Turns out, however, that the Eagles might not be the best team in their league.
Servite also has five of its top six returning, including all-county junior Nico Bollini, ranked No. 9 by Golfweek in the boys’ national rankings.
The Friars proved to be the top county team a year ago, finishing runner-up to Santa Barbara San Marcos in the season-ending CIF-SCGA finals.
Because of realignment, Servite, Golden West League champions the last six years, and Santa Margarita, six-time Sea View League champions, will battle for the Serra League title.
“This will probably be the toughest league race we’ll ever have,” O’Hara said. “It’s going to be much more of a challenge.”
Though both teams have league title streaks to think about, winning the league title is only a small battle. Many consider Servite and Santa Margarita the top two contenders for the Southern Section and CIF-SCGA titles as well.
“It really builds tension,” said Bollini. “We’re going to grind it out for league and we’re looking at them as our main opponents in CIF and everything.”
League titles haven’t meant much to Servite, which has skated through the Golden West League with ease. Santa Margarita faced stiffer competition in the Sea View League but still won the titles every year.
This year, the league title is a little higher on the priority list.
“Our school goal is to win the first [Serra] league title,” Conway said. “We have always won a league title, so if we didn’t, it wouldn’t be good.”
For Servite, there is added importance. The Friars have finished behind Santa Margarita in most sports since the realignment took effect at the beginning of the current school year.
“Our school isn’t winning league titles in anything,” Bollini said. “It would be big to win one in golf. Especially against Santa Margarita, that would be big. That’s the No. 1 team everyone wants to beat in golf so if we win a league title it would be a little more special.”
The list of similarities between Santa Margarita and Servite is long.
Both have a returning Times’ all-county selection as their top player. Both have a second-team all-county selection in the No. 2 slot. Both have five of their top six players returning and both have a coach named Tim.
“I love it,” Servite Coach Tim Meagher said. “I prefer to play against the best every match. I don’t want to just get a bunch of easy W’s.”
Bollini, among the most highly sought college recruits for next season, represented the West in the American Junior Golf Assn. Canon Cup last summer and has been selected to represent the U.S. in the Izzo Cup, a team-play competition with Sweden in June.
Conway is coming off a storybook summer in which he was co-medalist at the California Amateur and advanced to the quarterfinals. He also had the lead after two rounds of the Southern California Amateur and had two top-10 finishes in AJGA tournaments.
Ryan Cole of Servite and Taylor Wood of Santa Margarita play the No. 2 spots, and either could play No. 1 at just about any other county school.
Returners Dave Hawkins, Scott Manley and Chris Gallagher were all excellent for Santa Margarita. Ryan Heidorn, R.J. Nones and Ryan Carter all played key roles for Servite a year ago.
“You go down the line and we all match up pretty equally,” Bollini said. “From our No. 1 guy through about seven or eight, we can all shoot under par. It’s all a matter of who gets the putts to drop on the days we play.”
The teams meet twice in league play, on April 5 at Coto de Caza and April 22 at Los Coyotes. They will also be part of a three-way match with San Marcos April 24 at Sandpiper in Goleta and both will play the Jesuit High tournament at Twelve Bridges in Sacramento.
“We used to play them every year, but didn’t play last year,” O’Hara said. “We were kind of just looking at each other across the county, it wasn’t the same. This year we’re going to see a lot of them.”
Other teams to watch:
Huntington Beach has seven of its top eight returning from last year’s Sunset League championship team. Junior Andy Anderson and senior Kevin Kohara are coming off of excellent summers.
Newport Harbor has a deep team that will benefit from Santa Margarita’s exit from the Sea View League, which is suddenly one of the county’s most competitive.
Sophomore Dan Kush and senior Kevin Olson are joined by Oregon transfer Jake Allenbach as Sailor players with national-level experience, but Aliso Niguel, Woodbridge and Irvine are also strong.
The Vaqueros have five players back from a team finished fourth in the Southern Section last year.
Neil McDaniel and Casey Strohsahl lead South Coast League favorite San Clemente, but don’t count out Capistrano Valley, with Casey Peet, or Mission Viejo, with defending league champion Vince Poncino.
Zach Cohn and Brandon Hymes lead Villa Park, which could win its seventh consecutive Century League title.
With Southern Section champion Brian Sinay returning, along with Ryan Miller, University will be strong again, despite the graduation of county player of the year Ron Won.
Chris Ironroad is the top returning player in the Empire League and should help El Dorado win a third consecutive league title.
Brea Olinda lost Brad and Alex Oh, but made the Southern Section finals last year after the twins were suspended. Jason Woodrome and Ryan Sader return for the Orange League favorites.
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AT A GLANCE / Boys’ Golf
* The Proven: Servite junior Nico Bollini is ranked No. 9 in the nation among boys; Brian Sinay of University has won two Southern Section individual titles and has signed
with Stanford; Steve Conway of Santa Margarita has signed with UCLA; Vince Poncino of Mission Viejo is defending South Coast League champion; Andy Anderson of Huntington Beach won four junior tournaments over the summer; J.J. Johnston of Irvine was third in the Sea View League last year.
* The Promising: Orange Lutheran sophomore Matt Amen had a solid summer of junior golf; Aliso Niguel freshman Joseph Kim should have an impact; Oregon transfer Jake Allenach adds depth to Newport Harbor; Los Alamitos senior Chris Lee was the top player for Cerritos Gahr last season.
* Preseason top 10: 1. Servite--Everyone back, everyone better; 2. Santa Margarita--Actually, No. 1-A; 3. Huntington Beach--Might go undefeated in Sunset League; 4. Newport Harbor--Coach Jim Warren calls this the “strongest team in Newport history.”; 5. San Clemente--Undefeated in South Coast League for two years; 6. University--Even without Won, Trojans in upper echelon; 7. Villa Park--Four returning All-Century League players; 8. Capistrano Valley--Santa Margarita transfer Matt Williams adds depth; 9. Brea Olinda--Made Southern Section finals without its two best players. 10. Woodbridge--Could be surprise of the county.
* Key Dates: April 5--Servite vs. Santa Margarita at Coto de Caza. April 17--Freelance qualifying tournament at Rio Hondo Country Club. April 22--Santa Margarita vs. Servite at Los Coyotes. May 8--Southern Section team divisional playoffs: South Coast at El Prado, Chino; Southern at Los Serranos, Chino Hills; Western at LA Royal Vista, Walnut; Northern at Soule Park, Ojai; Eastern at Jurupa Hills, Riverside; Desert at Diamond Valley, Hemet; Central Coast at La Purisima, Lompoc; Central at Sun Lakes, Banning. May 11--Southern Section team finals at Saticoy Country Club, Somis. May 15--Southern Section individual regional qualifying: Northern at Montecito Country Club; Central at Desert Willow, Palm Desert; Southern at SeaCliff; May 22: Southern Section individual finals at Canyon Country Club, Palm Springs; June 6: CIF-SCGA Finals at SCGA Members Club, Murrieta.
* League Favorites: Century--Villa Park; Empire--El Dorado; Garden Grove--Orangewood Academy; Golden West--Ocean View; Olympic--Orange Lutheran; Orange--Brea Olinda; Pacific Coast--University; Sea View--Newport Harbor; Serra--Servite; South Coast--San Clemente; Sunset--Huntington Beach.
* Fast Fact: Santa Margarita has won a team regional tournament every year since regionals were implemented six years ago.