Knapp out, gains experience

MURRIETA — The conditions were ideal at 80 degrees.

But Estancia High junior Ryan Knapp said his golf game wasn’t up to par Thursday.

Knapp, who finished tied for 95th out of 124 golfers, shot an eight-over-par 80 at the CIF Southern California Golf Assn. Tournament at the SCGA Members Golf Course in Murrieta, missing the cut for the state tournament.

Only six individuals qualified for state, which will be at Santa Maria Country Club Tuesday.

“I had a rough start,” Knapp said. “It was just one of those days.”

Knapp was the lone golfer from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to advance to Thursday’s event.

He made it after being one of six golfers out of 11 to survive a two-hole, sudden-death playoff at the CIF Southern Section individual championships, where he shot a four-over-par 75 at Mission Lakes Country Club last week.

Knapp was also the first golfer from Estancia to go this far since Austin Maki did so in 1990, the same year he claimed the state title.

Estancia Coach Art Perry said Knapp battled back after being six over early on, getting it to four over with six holes to play.

But Perry said six bogeys and three double bogeys hurt Knapp, ending his bid to join Newhall Hart’s Johnny MacArthur (67), Santa Barbara’s Andrew Perez (67), Brea Olinda’s Rak Cho (69), Santa Maria Righetti’s Bobby Barajas (70), Torrey Pines’ Michael Kim (70), Bakersfield Stockdale’s Pete Fernandez (70) and Los Altos’ Ben Lein (70) at state.

“He got a lot of valuable experience,” said Perry of Knapp, who finished tied for 15th at the CIF Southern Section Southern individual regional and second at the Orange Coast League championships. “This is only going to help him next year.”

— From staff reports