Corona del Mar on upswing

Bryce Alderton

Corona del Mar High boys golf coach Mike Starkweather thought this

would be a rebuilding season.

But after tryouts, preseason practices and the first handful of

matches this spring, Starkweather has changed his outlook.

The Sea Kings, 4-3, 1-1 in the Pacific Coast League, held most of

their tryout rounds on the Los Lagos and Mesa Linda courses at Costa

Mesa Golf & Country Club.

And even the freshmen stepped up.

“These guys were shooting 41 and 42, and that was including

freshmen coming out,” said Starkweather, in his seventh year.

“One sophomore [Jack Francis] shot 1-under in tryouts.”

The Sea Kings have a blend of youth and experience, with three

senior returners, Ben Tilsen, Matt Story and Zach Rabinovich,

anchoring the lineup.

Tilsen and Rabinovich are each in their third varsity season while

Story is in his second.

Tilsen reached the CIF South individual regional championship

after placing fifth in the Pacific Coast League individual tournament

last spring.

Starkweather estimated the nine-hole scoring averages of the top

three players in the mid-to-high 30s.

Junior Jamie Bloom also returns for CdM, which finished second to

Tesoro in the race for the league title last year.

Juniors Cody Stuart and Ben Wu, along with sophomores David Su and

Francis make their varsity debuts.

Su played junior varsity at Woodbridge, but transferred back to

CdM after a change of residence.

“[Su] is the real deal,” Starkweather said. “The first round of

tryouts he shot 35.”

Su won his age division in the 2003 Irvine city championships and

placed second in the junior age group after shooting 70-71 in the

Orange County championships the same year.

Starkweather said he had one of his greatest turnouts ever during

tryouts and strong competition followed suit.

“We had 35 kids come out and of those, 12 were coming back,”

Starkweather said. “The freshmen and sophomores really pushed the bar

up for the juniors and seniors. Unfortunately, two juniors and one

senior didn’t make it.

CdM placed 10th in the South Coast divisional team championships

last season.