Servite Winds Up Second to San Marcos

SOMIS —  Saticoy Country Club played rough, so three Orange County teams played rougher.

Servite, Santa Margarita and University took second, third and fourth, behind champion Santa Barbara San Marcos in the Southern Section team golf championships Monday in Ventura County.

But Saticoy, with its tight, sloping fairways and undulating greens, was the real winner.

San Marcos (375), Servite (382), Santa Margarita (385) and University (389) were among only eight teams that broke 400--this from a field of the top 24 teams in the Southern Section. The top four advance to the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. championship June 3 at the SCGA Member’s Club in Murietta.

Team scores at the Southern Section championships were up an average of 17 strokes (389 to 406) over last week’s regional scores and only six individuals shot par or better. Ron Won of University tied with two others for the day’s best round, one-under-par 71.

“This course really made you work,” Servite’s Dave Lauder said. “It made you think, and if you lost concentration for one shot, you were O.B.”

Lauder found himself out of bounds on the par-5 18th hole (his ninth) and made a quadruple-bogey nine en route to an opening nine of 45. But he managed to recover and shoot 32 on the second nine with a little help.

“I ate a Power Bar,” Lauder said. “It made me feel stronger inside.”

Servite, which shot 403 in its regional last week and barely qualified for the Southern Section final, was the surprise of the day--finishing ahead of University and Santa Margarita for the first time this season.

“That was one of our big missions,” said Adam Ainbinder, who shot a team-leading 73. “I think they respected us, but I don’t think they thought we could beat them. We finally showed them that we could.”

Servite finished fourth in the final regular-season Orange County sportswriters’ poll. University was first and 1996 Southern Section champion Santa Margarita was second. Villa Park, which was third, fell victim to Saticoy’s treachery on Monday and finished with a 403 to tie for 11th.

The Friars were one of the first teams to post its final score, and subsequently waited nearly two hours before realizing it would hold up to finish in the top four. San Marcos, which got a 72 by its No. 6 player, J.R. Ruda, to beat the Friars, were the last team to finish.

“That was the most exciting hour and a half of our season,” Servite Coach Curtis Marcell said.

Servite had finished ninth in each of the last two Southern Section tournaments, but Marcell said he knew his team was better than that.

“We just haven’t been able to put it all together on the same day,” he said. “A couple of guys came through when we needed it.”

None of Servite’s players had ever played Saticoy, which makes their score on a course where local knowledge is important even more amazing. All shot 80 or better.

Santa Margarita was led by Kelly Craig and Tom Osseck, who each shot 75.

Sunny Hills, the fifth-ranked team in the county, finished a disappointing 15th at 407. Senior Jin Park, who shot 33 on the front nine then ballooned to 40 on the back, summed up the team’s performance.

“We just lost it,” he said. “It was a total mental breakdown.”