by Chris Peterson
Staff Writer
Playing the same 18 holes as members of the Professional Golfers Association can be quite exhilarating.
That is just what the La Verne golf team discovered last Friday and Saturday at the 48th Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Golf Championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif.
Walking the same course grounds as such golf greats as Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer, the Leopards finished off the two-day tournament in a disappointing 16th place, ahead of only one other team, Pomona-Pitzer.
“We actually play in a more difficult situation than the pros,” said head coach Rex Huigens. “The pin placement is the same but the rough is a little longer than they [pros] play it.
“You lose a lot of balls. The pros don’t have that problem because they have up to four caddies watching their balls for them. It is a very difficult course.”
The difficulty of the course showed in the Leopards’ scores. The top finisher for La Verne was Steve Lewis who shot a combined total of 166 for the tournament (22 over par).
The second best score for La Verne belonged to Justin Poore. He shot a 172 (28 over par).
Finishing right behind Poore was junior James Torpey with a 173, Jim Brooks shot a 176, and Scott Garrison finished with a 183.
The tournament, which draws teams from all over California, was divided into two divisions. The University Division featured Division I and Division II teams, while the College Division featured Division III teams, many of which compete in the SCIAC.
According to Huigens, “The SCIAC is very balanced this year. I don’t think anyone will go through the dual match season undefeated.”
Huigens’ prediction turned out to be right. La Verne traveled to Empire Lakes to take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday with a 3-0 record, only to be turned away with a five stroke loss. The Stags defeated the Leopards 323-328 despite a great round by Lewis who shot an 80.
Claremont is one of two top conference teams that La Verne faced this week, the other being Redlands.
The Leopards traveled to Redlands Country Club yesterday looking to come back from Wednesday’s loss.
Results of Thursday’s match were unavailable at press time.
