GOLF:

It is a nice welcome for any high school golf coach to get a contribution from a freshman during the season.

Corona del Mar boys’ golf coach, Mike Starkweather has four first-year students that are making an impact.

So while he is building a team that should be a force the next couple of years, apparently the future is now at Corona del Mar.

“This is a phenomenal team,” Starkweather said. “These freshman are really good. They have all played junior golf and were ready to go when they got here.”

The freshmen are Jonathan Keedy, Michael Moorhead, Brian Mull and John Davenport. They join senior Camden Nicholson and junior Josh Starnes as the nucleus for the best golf team Starkweather has had in his 12 years of coaching.

They are currently 8-1, with the only loss to Dana Hills, and probably would have won that match had Starkweather put in another player as an alternate. But they opened Pacific Coast League play with a win Wednesday and Starkweather has set some pretty lofty goals.

“I think we can win league and I think we can go to CIF,” Starkweather said. “One of our goals is to be one of the top three teams at regionals and get in to CIF. I would love to see us go to state.”

The team has given Starkweather reason to be so optimistic. Starkweather keeps giving his team tests and they keep passing them.

They played in an invitational at Los Serranos and five members of the team had a collective score of eight-over par for 18 holes.

Another of the many impressive feats was the recent defeat of Aliso Niguel, with CdM, winning, 176-193. That score was the lowest at Aliso Viejo Country Club by a high school team.

Earlier this season, the Sea Kings also shot the lowest score by any CdM team at their home course, Newport Beach Country Club. The team easily defeated Edison, 186-213.

“We want to break the record of the lowest score shot at the course,” Starkweather said. “Tesoro High School has that at 182. I really believe we can do it.”

During that match, the team’s lone senior, Nicholson shot a one-under 34. Nicholson has been routinely either under par or near it in many of the team’s matches this season.

“He was averaging below par in preseason matches,” Starkweather said. “He’s a solid player and a great kid.”

Competition has probably been fiercer to get on the varsity team than the opponent the Sea Kings end up facing. Wednesday, they knocked off Laguna Hills with another sizzling score, winning, 177-196, against Laguna Hills at Laguna Woods Golf Club.

“A combined team score of three-under is pretty amazing,” Starkweather said.

Keedy and Starnes both shot two-under-34 to share medalist honors. Nicholson was one stroke behind. Moorhead and Davenport both carded a 37.

“We have so many good players,” Starkweather said. “Our junior varsity could play on a lot of schools varsity teams.”

A way for Starkweather to set his lineup is to have a challenge on Friday where the teams play and the seven lowest play the following week. He has had three challenges this season and has had three different lineups.

“We had one challenge last week at Mile Square,” Starkweather said. “We got in 17 holes and we had the sixth and seventh kid shoot two and three over.”

The team recently finished fifth at an invitational tournament at Mesa Verde.

“Golf is a very difficult sport at the high schools,” Starkweather said. “You have to be on your game every day, but the kids have shown they have that mind-set.”

JOHN REGER’S golf column appears Thursdays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].