TARGET PRACTICE

Bryce Alderton

With the weather warming and spring finally here, area golf courses

are primed for the traffic they have and will receive until May and

maybe beyond from high school golfers leading their teams into league

play.

Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Estancia, Costa Mesa and Sage Hill

have all started league play with the race to CIF underway.

Corona del Mar

CdM comes off an undefeated season in the Pacific Coast League and

is 3-0 so far this season with a veteran corps that includes seniors

Nick Sherman, Tim Frohling and Brad Chamberlin who helped CdM finish

in the top 10 at the CIF Southern Section South Coast Division golf

championships. Sherman and Frohling advanced to the CIF Individual

Sectional Tournament with Sherman taking third place. He shot an

even-par 72 on the North Course at Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club.

Junior Alex Chikovani joins the aforementioned trio as players who

have qualified for CIF, which requires a golfer to be in the top five

in scoring average in league.

Juniors Robert Ury, Colby Hackett and Billy Bettingen, as well as

sophomores Ben Tilsen and Zack Rabinovich, give CdM added potential

to make a run at the league, and CIF titles.

“They want to win CIF,” said CdM Coach Mike Starkweather, now in

his fifth year with the program. “They are all really good, but we

need to stay focused ... it’s a process. These guys plot everything:

fairways in regulation, putts, ups and downs, sand saves. Charting

those statistics tells them what they need to work on.”

Newport Harbor

It’s only the first week of April and the Sailors have equaled

their win total (3) of a year ago.

Marianne Towersey enters her third season as the boys coach with

junior Michael Benvenuti and sophomore Davis Pemstein leading the

charge.

Garrett Whitfield and Jeff Lerner are Newport’s only two seniors

and join juniors Michael Vackar and David Motschenbacher along with

sophomores Rhett Palmer, Chris Willard and Brandon Sowers.

“Davis is our strongest player with Michael being No. 2,” Towersey

said. “After that, everyone else shoots 42 to 44. We’ve been tweaking

with the order a little bit after Nos. 1 and 2, even bringing up kids

from [junior varsity] to raise the level of play to where the varsity

players are at. They seem to be capable of that level, but time will

tell.”

Newport headed into its match Wednesday against Woodbridge 1-1 in

the Sea View League. The Warriors -- the defending CIF champions --

are ranked No. 3 by the Times and present a stern challenge to the

Sailors, but Towersey remains confident.

“I think we can challenge for second or third,” she said. “We have

potential if the guys come to party each time.”

Estancia

A Golden West League title is certainly not a far-fetched

propostion for the Estancia High boys golf team this season.

After battling for years in the PCL with CdM, the Eagles now get a

chance to strut their stuff against the likes of Costa Mesa,

Westminster, Ocean View and Orange, and have fared well so far.

Coming into Wednesday, the Eagles are 6-1, 3-0 in league, and

return a strong lineup.

Senior Jason Cassidy leads the team with a 36.7 scoring average

followed by senior Ryan Brown, also an All-PCL golfer last season

along with Cassidy, as Estancia finished third in that league. Junior

Jason Les was also part of the team that finished fifth at the CIF

divisional championships last spring. Cassidy qualfied for the CIF

individual sectional tournament.

Freshmen Greg Les, Marcus Sostak and Austin Serr give Coach Art

Perry, now in his 18th season with Estancia, added hope. Junior Nick

Lettierri transferred from a school in Pennsylvania and had never

played golf until this season. He shot a 44 as the seventh man

Tuesday.

“[Sostak] hits the ball a long ways, is a good putter and

practices like eight hours a day,” Perry said.

Perry also mentioned the Eagles combine for a 3.67 grade point

average.

Estancia will play in the 40-team Easter Tournament later this

month in Atascadero and also in the Oak Park Tournament.

Costa Mesa

Tom Baldwin is just glad to be out of the PCL.

Costa Mesa High’s boys golf coach is in his seventh year with the

program and expects a season of transition, leading to what he hopes

will be a bright future.

Baldwin has five seniors that include Newport Harbor transfer Nick

Zimmerman, Adam Donovan, Alex Mulhern, Joey Edwards and Aaron King to

go with junior Brian Beach and freshman Billy Jackson.

Mesa entered Wednesday with a 4-7 mark, 1-0 in the Golden West

League.

“I’m happy with the progress they are making,” Baldwin said. “They

are playing much better than I thought they would. We couldn’t

compete against [PCL foes] CdM, Laguna Beach and Northwood. Now,

we’re playing Westminster, Ocean View and Orange, so we can compete.

“Right now, the kids are shooting 216, 217 and 218, but are

capable of 210 to 215 on a good day.

“We don’t get kids who have played a lot. Brian and Billy play

with their dads on the weekends but some haven’t touched a golf club

until we got them. Edwards and King had never played golf until three

months ago so to shoot a 45 is really good. I’m happy with their

progress.”

Zimmerman has shot a 1-under 34 while Beach and Jackson have

turned in rounds under 40.

“If they all do that on the same day, we can compete,” Baldwin

said.

“But the trick is maintaining that every day, which is difficult.”

Sage Hill

Across the pristine manicured fairways of Strawberry Farms Golf

Club in Irvine steps the Sage Hill School’s boys golf team, ready for

improvement with second-year coach Erik Gnagy at the helm.

The former UCI assistant to men’s coach Paul Smolinski, Gnagy said

the Lightning, 4-4, 4-5 in the Academy League as of Wednesday, has

vastly improved, with an increased focus.

“We want to develop Sage Hill into a competitive program,” said

Gnagy, who is a Professional Golfers Association apprentice under

David Wright at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast. Gnagy hopes

to become a certified PGA professional upon completion of the program

and aspires to coach at a Division I school. Sage Hill is his first

high school coaching position.

Sage features senior Jake Strong along with juniors Alex Cochran

and Blake Brewer. Sophomores John Ness, Nasser Alhamad and Jeff

Cruttenden join freshmen Josh Chen, Bryan Kornsweit and Ryan

Schweitzer. Don Kim was the only Sage Hill golfer to make the CIF

individual championships last season, but has since transferred.

Nonetheless, Sage Hill has gotten production in the early going.

Josh Chen leads the Lightning with a 41.7 scoring average followed by

Cochran’s 43 and Ness’ 47, Gnagy said.