JC men’s golf: OCC eying conference crown

The Orange Coast College men’s golf team enters today’s Orange

Empire Conference Championships hopeful of claiming the conference title.

Coach Barry Wallace’s Pirates finished tied for second with Irvine

Valley in the conference regular season, both posting 14-4 records

against OEC competition.

Saddleback leads the pack into today’s 36-hole competition among five

schools at Los Serranos Golf Club in Chino Hills.

The top four teams from today’s action will advance to the Southern

California Regionals, scheduled May 6.

OCC will be paced by Fredrik Svanberg, who posted the low round of any

OEC golfer last week with a 6-under-par 66 in the Pirates victory over

Riverside.

Svanberg’s conference scoring average of 74.1 ranks third among OEC

players. OCC’s Lou Carrasco ranks fourth with a 74.36 average and fellow

Pirate Kelly Wicks (eighth at 75.27) is also in the top 10.

Irvine Valley is led by Costa Mesa High product Jeff Montoya, whom

Coach Ben Burnett credits for helping the Lasers turn things around after

finishing 3-15 in conference last year.

Montoya shot 3-under 69 to help the Lasers defeat Riverside last week

and ranks ninth in the conference with a scoring average of 75.55.

“Jeff is our team captain and he has displayed leadership and courage,

as well as golf talent,” Burnett said.