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Damian Dottore. Sports. HS Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Associate Mug Shot taken August 24, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

YORBA LINDA – For Issei Tanabe, the whole point of playing boys golf for Mater Dei is showing no mercy to the competition.

It doesn’t matter if he is tied for the lead or ahead by six strokes like he was heading into Tuesday’s final round of the Trinity League championship tournament.

“The whole reason why I am here is to focus on one shot at a time and go as low as I can,” Tanabe said. “I don’t care about numbers. It all comes down to playing fearless golf. That is what is important, and I think I was able to do that today. It reflected in my score.”

 And in the end he made school history, becoming the first Mater Dei boys golfer to win the Trinity League championship. His even-par 71 in the final round helped him finish the 36-hole tournament at Yorba Linda Country Club with a 1-under-par 141 and cruise to a nine-stroke triumph. 

“It is good for Mater Dei that there is a guy who win the Trinity League, but that doesn’t really mean anything to me, honestly,” Tanabe said. “What is really important is from here on. This is just the first step toward state.”

Two years ago during his freshman year, Mater Dei qualified as a team for the CIF State Tournament, but Tanabe sat out with a back injury.

“This (the Trinity League tournament) is just a warm up for something big,” Tanabe said. “You can just rely on it and be happy about it through the rest of the journey. It is a long process.”

Tanabe has to make the cut at three postseason tournaments to earn another tee time at the CIF State Championship at San Gabriel Valley Country Club on June 1. First up is the CIF-SS Southern Individual Regional at Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach on May 9. Tanabe along with the top eight finishers in the Trinity League tournament earned a place in the regional.

Servite’s Jack Rahon posted a 76 and 74 to finish second with a 150 followed by Tom McCarthy (Santa Margarita), Kyle Kinnane (Servite) and Isaiah Aguirre (Mater Dei), who each shot a 152.

“It feels pretty good to finish second, and to come back with a better score (on the second day), it kind of topped it off,” Rahon said. “I just tried to stay cool and confident and hit good golf shots and get as close as I can. But he played really well today. I played just decent.”

Tanabe was the only player in the field to finish under par, sealing his 141 with a tricky right-to-left-breaking 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the tournament. It was one of the three birdies that Tanabe posted in the final round.

“That was a significant putt, the difference between even and 1 under,” Tanabe said. “And it is always good to be in red numbers so making that putt was kind of big.”