Eagles Crave Their Shot at Redemption

The pressure is on the Santa Margarita High golf team, and Coach Tim O’Hara wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Eagles, who had a disappointing regular season, have a chance for redemption today in the CIF-SCGA championship at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta.

The tournament pits the top teams and players from the Southern, San Diego, Central and City sections and is the closest thing to a state tournament in golf.

Santa Margarita lost a league title for the first time in school history when Servite won the Serra League. Then the Eagles failed to win a regional title for the first time when they lost to Servite again. They washed away some of the bitterness with a Southern Section title last month.

But O’Hara told his team that anything short of victory today will leave that sour taste lingering.

“I think it would be somewhat of a disappointment if we didn’t end our season on a high note,” O’Hara said.

That’s exactly the kind of pressure O’Hara said his team needs. Before the Southern Section finals May 11, he questioned his team’s ability to get past Servite, and the team responded with a victory.

“This team seems to respond best when it’s challenged,” O’Hara said. “Some teams fold under pressure, but this one responds.”

O’Hara’s top player, UCLA-bound senior Steve Conway, struggled in individual tournaments in recent weeks, but his game is solid and he heated up around this time last year.

Sophomore Taylor Wood is a clutch performer and has averaged 73.75 in postseason events this year. Dave Hawkins, Mike Farrell, Scott Manley and Andrew Price round out a lineup that is capable of shooting under par as a team.

A victory today would mark another first for Santa Margarita, which won CIF-SCGA titles in 1993 and ’97 and a Southern Section title in ’96 to go along with this year’s but has not won both in the same year.

“We’ve had some firsts this year that weren’t too good,” O’Hara said. “But this would be a pretty good feat if we can win both. I think that would say something about the team and it could erase some of the frustrations from earlier in the year.”

Servite did not qualify for today’s tournament, leaving the Eagles as heavy favorites to win the title, with Southern Section runner-up Atascadero the primary challenger.

Santa Margarita has history on its side. The CIF-SCGA tournament began in 1971, and Southern Section teams have won 16 of the 29 titles. Of those 16, nine won Southern Section titles the same year.

Recent history is even more encouraging for the Eagles.

Beginning in 1992, there have been nine Southern Section tournaments and eight CIF-SCGA tournaments. Of those 17 tournaments, Santa Margarita, San Marcos and Palm Desert have won 12.

In the nine tournaments since 1996, only Westlake’s victory over Santa Margarita in the 1996 CIF-SCGA tournament prevented a sweep by the big three. Westlake defeated Santa Margarita that year by one stroke.

Palm Desert and San Marcos won section titles in 1998 and ‘99, then each went on to victory in the CIF-SCGA tournament. But neither Palm Desert nor San Marcos qualified for the tournament this year.

“I didn’t even think about that,” O’Hara said. “It does put pressure on you, but the teams from our section are usually favored.”

Southern Section individual champion Nico Bollini of Servite will attempt to add his name to a champions list that includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, John Cook, Lennie Clements and Craig Stadler.

Bollini, a junior who is ranked No. 9 in the nation among boys, can join Woods as the only player to win CIF-SCGA and Southern Section titles in the same year.

“This is pretty important,” Bollini said. “A lot of players don’t take this too seriously, but I think it’s a good way to kick off the summer.”

Brian Sinay of University, who last month fell short in his bid for a record-tying third Southern Section individual title, is also in the field. Two years ago, Sinay was tied for the lead in the CIF-SCGA tournament with two holes to play, but finished bogey-bogey and ended up three strokes back.

Last year, Sinay was nursing a sore back and shot 74, 12 shots behind winner and former teammate Ron Won in a tie for 14th.

“I’d like to make another run at this,” Sinay said. “I really made a big run [in 1998], but last year I didn’t really have a chance.”

Other county players in the field are Southern Section runner-up Mike Rim of Sunny Hills, Jay Choe of Esperanza, Jason Woodrome of Brea Olinda and Jeff Montoya of Costa Mesa.