CdM boys’ golf clips Newport Harbor to sweep Battle of the Bay
A stirring close made up for a sloppy start as Corona del Mar rallied at the finish to complete a Battle of the Bay sweep on the golf links, a triumph that meant everything all successes against Newport Harbor mean, even with nobody around to celebrate.
The Sea Kings, behind late-charging James Leehealey and ailing Charlie Olson, pulled out a 188-191 decision on the final hole Wednesday on Costa Mesa Country Club’s Mesa Linda Course, and if it wasn’t quite that dramatic, it still felt pretty good to the victors.
“Battle of the Bay is something special,” said CdM boys’ golf head coach Steve Conti, whose team trailed the first five holes, “but I think it’s unique in golf, because there’s no fan base out here. Every other sport — volleyball, water polo, basketball, football — it would be a sellout crowd, but you don’t get that fan base here and the kids storming the ninth green after you make the win or something.”
Said Olson, a Gonzaga-bound senior who aggravated a back injury on his second-hole tee shot but was one under par on the last seven holes: “It’s hard to tell how big it is, with the lack of fans — because they’re not allowed [on the course] in golf — but to us, it means a lot.”
There was plenty of suspense, most of it hidden. All anyone knew was that it was close, the outcome wasn’t certain until the last of four quartets completed its round, and only an analysis of the scorecards revealed just how tight things really were. The match was even, at 168-168, after eight holes — neither side had led by more than 4 strokes all afternoon — and the par-four ninth hole belonged to Corona del Mar (8-2).
Leehealey, whose round started with a pair of bogeys, sunk a birdie putt — with it he overcame a two-shot deficit to share medalist honors, at even-par 35, with Sailors senior Zack Moreau — and six of the other seven Sea Kings made par. Five of Newport Harbor’s eight golfers bogeyed the hole, including Moreau, who was sensational down the stretch, and his top-group partner Tyler Richardson. Only the top five individual scores count toward a team’s total.
“I knew we were down early and it was close,” said Conti, whose team won Monday’s match at Newport Beach Country Club, 185-198, behind Olson’s two-under-par 34. “But knowing exactly how it played out made for a crazy finish.”
Neither side was at its best.
“I guarantee you, this will be the worst performance of the year,” said Newport Harbor head coach Scott Tarnow.
Noted Conti: “We got a little lucky that we maybe caught them on an off day, too — on a series of demanding greens, but there was some very fine play within that.”
Leehealey, who like Olson played a prominent role on Corona del Mar’s 2022 CIF Southern Section championship side, found his stride quickly following the bogeys on the par-four first and par-three second and birdied two holes down the stretch.
“It was a little bit of a rocky start, but if you just keep grinding, stay in it, it eventually comes around sometimes,” Leehealey said. “I tried to make a pretty risky [shot from the tee on the third hole], slice it around a tree, and it worked, and I sort of felt it in my heart [that] things are coming around. ... Coming up to the ninth hole after I hit my perfect drive, I just knew it was going to be a birdie.”
Moreau, playing in the group ahead of Leehealey, also bogeyed two early holes, then birdied the fourth, fifth and seventh . The par-five fifth was highlight-reel material: a hooked tee shot into deep rough beyond the cart path, a chip into a bunker, then a 30-foot putt from the fringe. He sunk a sloping 20-footer on the fourth hole.
“On a day like this, when the greens are firm, the pins are tucked and hard, it’s not too difficult, because it’s [a short course], but it can play tough around the greens,” Moreau said. “That’s how this course gets you. It doesn’t get you with distance, it gets you with the greens.”
Olson, who was in Moreau’s group and finished two strokes off the lead, also had a beautiful birdie putt, a 30-footer on the par-three sixth.
“Those are always fun when they fall, because they rarely do ...,” Olson said. “There’s a lot of slope out here. You’ve got to be very strategic with where you land the ball, where you place it, so you leave yourself an uphill putt.”
Olson had “tweaked” his back last week, and it was “bugging” him after that tee shot on the second hole. Advil helped, but he was hooking his drives.
“I played through it,” he said. “Battle of the Bay. I was never going to quit.”
Conti wasn’t surprised.
“It’s easy to play when things are going your way, but how do you perform when things aren’t going your way?” he said. “But he’s a competitor and he found a way to grind out a 37 today, which is not a score he’d be super happy about. Last week here he was four strokes better, but that’s a real good score [under the circumstances], and that’s a guy you want on your team.”
Steven Yang and Bill Zhan shot 38 for the Sea Kings. Newport Harbor (2-4) also had two players at 38: Richardson, who led for two holes after a birdie on the par-three second, and Aidan O’Shea, playing in the fourth group.
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