Blue Devil boys advance to NorCals for the first time since 1999
It’s too early to say whether Jordan Baroody, Chase Dossa, Scott Raber or anyone from this year’s Davis High boys golf team will end up on the PGA Tour.
But with a second-place finish at Monday’s Sac-Joaquin Masters tournament — where the Blue Devils were just one stroke behind winner Del Oro — DHS advanced to the NCGA/CIF Northern California Golf Championships as a team for the first time since a Nick Watney-led squad made it that far in 1999. Watney now plays on the PGA Tour and took fourth place last weekend at The Players Championship.
This year’s Devils are powered by their depth and consistency as four of their five scoring players broke 80, while Alex Blumenfeld was right there with an 81.
“It was a great day,” said DHS coach Karl Ronning. “It’s like a lot of sports, you just peak at the right time. I honestly still don’t think we have played the best we can play.”
But on Monday, facing the section’s top schools from all divisions, the Blue Devils’ total of 382 was one shot from being the best score on the board at The Reserve in Stockton. Del Oro posted a 381 to capture first place and third-place Granite Bay also qualified for NorCals with a 388.
Baroody’s 72 was the third best individual score of the day.
“I could see Jordan in front of me and he was on the fairways, on the greens, just playing great,” said Ronning, who was assigned to monitor the group right behind his senior standout. “He was just absolutely rock solid and you could see he was just in the moment. He had one bad hole but he didn’t let that affect him, he just kept soldiering on.”
Dossa, a sophomore, came in with a 75, Raber shot a 76 and Charlie Klein carded a 78. Luke Solar ended up as DHS’ nonscoring golfer with a 92.
It’s because of good scores like those, which have been the norm all season, that Davis heads to NorCals feeling anything but just happy to be there. The top three teams and four individuals next Monday at Butte Country Club in Chico will qualify for the state tournament.
“We are going in with a real positive attitude that we are going to play our best,” Ronning said. “It’s not about ‘we’re here for the first time in 12 years,’ it’s about ‘we get to play another tournament.’ We have a lot of confidence right now.”
Notes: The state tournament is June 8 on Poppy Hills Golf Course at Pebble Beach. … former Blue Devil Tyler Raber made it to NorCals as an individual in 2007 and 2008, his senior year. As a junior, he took fourth at the event and qualified for the state tournament. Raber is now a junior for UC Davis, which will begin play at the NCAA regionals on Thursday. … Watney’s 1999 squad did not advance to the state tourney.
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Posted by Enterprise staff
on May 16 2011.
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