McGaughey wins boys’ golf trophy

The Laguna Beach High boys’ golf team added a piece of hardware to its program when junior Bret McGaughey won the Orange Coast League individual championship May 1.

McGaughey, Skylar Perkins and Michael Cannon were the three Breakers who advanced from the league prelims to the finals tournament. McGaughey won the title by shooting a 4-over-par 36 at El Prado Golf Course in Chino.

He won the tournament by two strokes.

McGaughey, the Breakers’ team captain, was making his first appearance at league finals and is in his second year on varsity. After playing his freshman year at Sage Hill, he was voted team MVP at Laguna Beach as a sophomore.

“It was my first time going into a situation like that,” McGaughey said of league finals, “and I thought that if I stayed in the present moment, I could do well. Coach [Scott Finn] told me that whoever grinds it out would win.

“I was playing well and had made just about every putt inside 8 feet. It felt great to win it.”

As a team, the Breakers — McGaughey, Perkins, Cannon, Nick Mestre, Shane Springer, Christian Bosworth and Trevor Hathaway — finished second in league. They were 10-2 overall.

“I was extremely proud that my team’s performance level peaked at just the right time during the league individual finals,” Finn said.

Fifty golfers entered league prelims on April 30 at Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club. The top 12 from that tournament advanced to league finals at El Prado.