DANA POINT – Dana Hills probably won’t win the South Coast League girls golf championship this season unless Tesoro loses its last two matches. And even if that happens, the Dolphins and Titans would share first place. Because the Titans beat the Dolphins twice this season, Tesoro would still win the title on a tiebreaker
But Dana Hills coach Phil Wilburton is chasing a bigger championship, one that will be awarded in a few weeks during the CIF-SS tournament season.
On Monday here at Monarch Beach Golf Links, No. 6 Dana Hills, cruised to a 207-276 nonleague victory against Capistrano Valley, meaning that the Dolphins have only lost two nine-hole matches dating to the start of the 2011 season.
Tesoro edged Dana Hills twice in a span of nine days, by a total of two shots, needing to break a 204-204 tie on the sixth-player score in the teams’ final meeting of the season.
During the CIF tournament season last year, the Dolphins finished second in the Southern team regional at Los Coyotes Country Club in Chino Hills, and this time around, he’s feeling just as optimistic
“I would love to see us advance (out of the regional and into the team championship tournament). I think we have a team that is capable of doing that,” he said. “I think we have a real shot. It has to be a day where most of my girls play pretty well. They don’t have to play their best. They just have to shoot around what they have been shooting, and Avery (French) just has to play her normal game.”
French medaled for the 12th time this season, carding a 1-over-par 37 on the front nine, which gives her a 35.3 stroke average. On Sunday, the UNLV-bound French won the Toyota Tour Cup event at SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, finishing the 36-hole tournament with a 2-over-par 146, which put her three shots clear of second place. It was her second Toyota Tour Cup triumph in as many starts at the course.
“It (winning there two years in a row) was pretty exciting. I had a little bit of expectations going in, so it was exciting to win twice,” she said.
French said her consistency has come from playing almost nonstop in tournaments during the summer, and she said she’s still been in “tournament mode” playing for Dana Hills. Her scores prove that. In the Dolphins last match against Tesoro, she posted a 4-under-par 32 at Tijeras Creek Golf Club.
“She has been unbelievable. Every time out, she is right around par,” Wilburton said. “She has been playing a lot and she is a talented kid. She takes lessons every week, and is very serious about golf. She is the real deal.”
