Wheatley nearly tops field

By Steve Virgen, <a href=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>

July 29, 2011 11:29 PM PT

Chase Wheatley helped the Corona del Mar High boys’ golf team to a memorable season in the spring. He nearly bagged a momentous victory in the Costa Mesa Junior Championship.

Wheatley, an incoming junior, finished tied for second, four shots behind the winner in the boys’ 16-18 division Thursday at Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club.

Nico Mendoza of Yorba Linda won the title, as he shot two-under-par 138 (70-68). Wheatley was four shots behind Mendoza after the first round. Mendoza then shot the lowest round Thursday. Wheatley was one stroke behind and had to settle for a tie with Tim Hoang of Rancho Santa Margarita.

As a sophomore, Wheatley was a part of the Sea Kings’ 21-1 season, as the CdM team recorded the most wins in program history. The Sea Kings also went undefeated in the Pacific Coast League for the second straight year. CdM finished sixth out of 21 teams in the CIF Southern Section Team Final Championship to end its season.

Wheatley was tied for second Thursday in a 29-player field.

Jed Meng of Irvine (76-68-144) finished tied for fourth.

Brad Tapfer (76-72-148), an incoming sophomore at Newport Harbor, finished tied for 13th.

Daniel Willett of Newport Beach (75-78-153) was 21st, Conner Davison of Costa Mesa (81-77-158) was 25th, Max Meisenheimer of Newport Beach (82-83-165) was 27th and John Harzan of Newport Beach (85-81-166) was 28th.

Tyler Tsay of Encino (73-68-141) won the boys’ 14-15 division. John Hong of Newport Beach (74-74-148) finished fourth and Courtland Lee (80-72-152), an incoming sophomore at Estancia, was sixth. Lee helped the Eagles to an unprecedented undefeated regular season (17-0) and an Orange Coast League title in the spring.

Clayton Feagler of Laguna Niguel (68-64-132) won the boys’ 12-13 division in impressive fashion going eight under. Daniel Dimaculangan (71-70-141) and Kaito Onishi (72-69-141), both from Irvine, were tied for second. Chase Furey of Newport Beach (72-74-146) finished fourth.

Anthony Dao of Fountain Valley won the boys’ 9-11 division that had two nine-hole rounds. Dao shot 34-37 for one-over 71. Alexander Yang of Newport Coast finished third, shooting 36-45-81.