Wright in Right Place and at the Right Time : High school golf: With Woods, Oh in U.S. Open qualifying event, Buena senior becomes SCGA tournament favorite.

When Chad Wright tees it up Monday morning in the Southern California Golf Assn. high school golf tournament at Stockdale Country Club in Bakersfield, he will find himself the favorite despite coming off a runner-up finish in the Southern Section tournament.

Wright, a senior from Buena High, placed second last month in the Southern Section individual golf championships at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs. No shame in that, especially because nationally renowned Tiger Woods of Anaheim was the lone player to beat him.

The wrinkle is that Woods on Monday will be playing in a U.S. Open sectional qualifying tournament at Valencia Country Club. So will Ted Oh of Torrance, another individual favorite.

Consequently, Wright, who has signed to play next season at USC, inherits the mantle as the likely top dog. You’re the favorite, right, Wright?

“I suppose so,” Wright said. “I don’t know. I’m not familiar with some of the players from up north.”

A shotgun start for boys’ individual and team play is set for 7:30. Westlake, Granada Hills and Taft are among the 10 schools that qualified for the team competition.

Last month, Westlake placed fourth in the Southern Section tournament at Sandpiper Golf Course in Goleta. Granada Hills and Taft finished first and second, respectively, in the City tournament at Wilson Golf Course in Griffith Park.

Also entered in the team event are Clovis and Clovis West of the Central Section, Torrey Pines and Poway of the San Diego Section, and Palm Desert, Santa Margarita and Trabuco Hills of the Southern Section.

Trabuco Hills, which fired a five-man total of 391 at San Diego Country Club last June, is the defending SCGA champion. Westlake is led by All-Marmonte League selections Koji Ishii and Ross Fulgentis.

Wright’s toughest competition in the individual tournament, at least from the regional perspective, should come from Granada Hills sophomore Darren Angel, who won the City individual title and is considered among the best junior players in Southern California.

For the first time, the SCGA staged a separate qualifying tournament--held last month--to determine finalists in the girls’ individual event. The group is led by Allison Wilson and Elise Kimm of Grant, Kim Handcock and Jill Kaopua of Hueneme, Lindy Donnelly of Thousand Oaks, Linda Ishii of Westlake, Karen Johnston of Chatsworth, Jeany Lee of Hart and Cheryl Musser of Alemany.

The girls’ tournament will begin at 1 p.m. The last girl from the region to win the individual title was Stephanie Martin of Rio Mesa in 1989.

Individual boys’ qualifiers from the region include David Benbasset of Birmingham, Steve Brickman of El Camino Real, Brad Cogswell of Highland, Josh Jacobs of Grant, Mark Posen of Van Nuys and Eric Shortz of Harvard-Westlake.

Five players from Granada Hills and four from Taft also qualified as individuals. For those players doing double duty, their 18-hole scores will count in both the team and individual competitions.

No player from the region has won the boys’ individual title, though Hart’s Jason Gore, now a freshman at Arizona, finished second at El Caballero Country Club in 1990 and Mike Zambri of Westlake did likewise at North Ranch Country Club in 1987. Past boys’ champions include Craig Stadler (1971), John Cook (1976), Phil Mickelson (1987), Manny Zerman (1988) and Woods (1991).

Three schools from the region have won the team title: Rio Mesa in 1973, Thousand Oaks in 1978 and Westlake in 1987. Taft placed second in 1980 and 1987.