Smaller Ball Could Mean a Bigger Future for Cho

Carling Cho started playing golf just to pass time between softball seasons.

Her father played and she thought it would be a good way to get on his good side. Little did she know, it might be a good way to get into college too.

Cho, a junior at Dana Hills High, has played only two years but already has two South Coast League titles, and she shot one-over-par 73 Monday, leading the Dolphins to a sixth-place finish in the Southern Section South Divisional tournament at El Prado in Chino. The Dolphins missed advancing to the finals by two shots.

She didn’t anticipate that after just two years she would be the dominant player in the South Coast League and would have dropped her first sport of choice, softball, to focus on golf full time.

“Softball was messing up my golf swing,” joked Cho, who played for the Dana Hills junior varsity softball team as a freshman. “I didn’t think I would be good, but so far it’s worked out OK.”

Cho took to golf almost immediately. Her sweet swing produced booming drives and a deft short game, and she became the top player for Dana Hills as a sophomore. This past summer she emerged as a force on the SCPGA junior circuit, winning nine times.

She’s at the point now where a 73, which was second among individual scorers Monday, had her moping about a double bogey on the final hole.

“I three-putted,” she said.

Cho said she likes golf more now, especially when her team plays well, and enjoys the pressure of being the No. 1 player.

“I like team golf a little bit more because everybody is depending on you,” Cho said. “In individual tournaments you just have pressure from yourself.”

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

University players nearly missed their tee times Monday because the Trojans’ bus didn’t show up.

Coach Patti Anduri and a player’s mother loaded the players and clubs into cars and the Trojans arrived 15 minutes prior to tee-off.

QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD

Anduri said she is retiring from teaching and coaching after this year. A 31-year veteran of teaching math, Anduri said she is just tired.

She joked that with seniors Sunny Lee and Michelle Barth graduating from a team that won the 1998 Southern Section and 1999 CIF-WSCGA titles and has not lost a regular-season match in three years, she wanted to go out on top.

“I’m leaving before anyone finds out it wasn’t good coaching,” Anduri said.

IF LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS

Instead of waiting around nervously pacing, a couple of coaches made a tee time and played at El Prado Monday while their teams were on the course.

Aliso Niguel Coach Wayne Westling and Corona del Mar’s Mike Starkweather took on Tracy Roberts and Jason Chapple of Woodbridge.

Roberts, a certified PGA apprentice, and Chapple, who plans to enter PGA Tour qualifying next year, had to give Westling and Starkweather a stroke on every hole. Those giving the strokes ended up buying the lemonade after the round.

“That’s the last time I ever give strokes to them,” said Roberts, carrying drinks away from the snack bar.

WITHOUT WING, NO PRAYER

Northwood, in its first year of varsity golf, shot a team score of 302 and finished tied for 21st among 23 teams. The Timberwolves played Monday without No. 2 player Allison Wing, who twisted her knee while playing soccer last week. Katie Willis took her place.

SCORING CHANGE?

The Southern Section office sent out surveys to girls’ golf coaches to gather opinions about changing the scoring format.

Currently, girls’ golf is scored with the best three out of four counting as a team’s score. The section had planned on switching to the best four out of five next year, but many coaches have expressed concern about whether the sport is ready.

The biggest concerns are pace of play, higher scoring and the additional course time required. No timetable has been set for a decision.

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GIRLS’ GOLF TOP 10

Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll

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Pos. School (League) Rec 1. University (Pacific Coast) 16-0 2. Villa Park (Century) 17-1 3. Aliso Niguel (Sea View) 17-1 4. Santa Margarita (Serra) 15-3 5. Rosary (Serra) 14-2 6. Los Alamitos (Sunset) 16-1 7. Corona del Mar (Pacific Coast) 13-5 8. Dana Hills (South Coast) 12-4 9. Esperanza (Sunset) 13-4 10. Irvine (Sea View) 9-5

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