LOCAL NOTES : Booth Advances to Golf Final

Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza advanced to the final of the Women’s Western Golf Assn. national junior championship by defeating Mary Moan of Far Hills, N.J., 3 and 2, Thursday in Granger, Ind.

Booth, a senior-to-be at Santa Margarita High, was three-up after nine holes, but Moan rallied to tie the match on the 13th. Booth then won the next three holes (par, birdie, par) to win.

Booth will face Grace Park of Phoenix this morning for the title. Last year in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, Booth defeated Park, 5 and 4, in the quarterfinals.

Booth reached the semifinals by defeating Erin O’Neil of Zephyrhills, Fla., 4 and 3, Thursday morning.

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Tiger Woods of Cypress shot two-under 70 at Torrey Pines South and moved into a tie for third place of the boys’ 15-17 division after three rounds of the Optimist Junior World golf championship.

With one round to play, Woods is at five-under 211, three behind leader Chad Wright of Ventura, who shot 68 Thursday. Patrick Perez of Cardiff is a stroke behind Wright and Gilberto Morales of Venezuela is tied with Woods.

In the boys’ 13-14 division at Mission Trails, Jin Park of Fullerton is in fifth place at 212 and John Park of Fullerton is sixth at 213.

In the boys’ 11-12 division, Brian Sinay of Irvine finished third four strokes behind winner Michael Hastings of Spokane.

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Kemp Richardson of Laguna Niguel and Scott Gibson of Huntington Beach each shot 68 and are three shots off the lead after the first round of the Long Beach Open at Long Beach Recreation Park.

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Tony Gonzales of Huntington Beach High scored 22 points as Orange County beat D.C. Players, 92-81, in the second round of the Nike National Prep Basketball Championship at Nevada Las Vegas.

In other games, Miles Simon of Mater Dei scored 21 points and Clay McKnight of Mater Dei High added 14 as South Coast defeated Idaho, 65-53. Santa Margarita was eliminated by Phoenix BCI, 59-46.