Santa Margarita completes sweep of Mater Dei
SANTA ANA – Mater Dei boys golf coach Ollie Martin stood in the middle of his team, huddled alongside the ninth green at Santa Ana Country Club, and tried to heal the Monarchs' wounded pride.
For the second time in nine days, Mater Dei got beat by Trinity League rival Santa Margarita as Beau Hossler and Andrew Levitt both posted subpar rounds on Thursday to help the No. 1 Eagles post a 185-187 victory against No. 4 Mater Dei on the Monarchs’ home course.
“It’s tough because we are real competitive against our league teams, and we want to win every one of those. It’s real important to us,” Martin said. “But I told them to not lose sight of the big picture. That is to win CIF, and this team is good enough to do that.”
The Monarchs did improve quite a bit from the last time these two teams met on March 8. That day Santa Margarita cruised to an 11-stroke victory at Dove Canyon Country Club. Andrew Levitt was the medalist in that match, just like he was on Thursday here at Santa Ana Country Club.
Even though the greens were firm and fast, and there aren’t many birdie holes on the front nine, Levitt still carded a 3-under 33. He did catch a bit of a break on the 477-yard, par-5 No. 9. His approach landed in the rough on a down slope next to the green and bounced into the hazard, his ball just missing the creek that runs alongside the hole.
He pitched it onto the green and had 15 feet left to hole a birdie, but he didn’t read the putt right and ended his round with a par.
Levitt birdied three holes on Thursday and is now a total of 5-under par in his two matches against Mater Dei.
Hossler birdied his last two holes at Santa Ana Country club to post a 1-under 35 for Santa Margarita. He drilled his approach on ninth hole almost 200 yards and had 20 feet for an eagle. He, too, had a tough time reading the tricky greens on the front nine, and settled for a two-putt birdie.
Hossler played the first five holes at even par, but he dropped a shot one the 177-yard downhill par-3 sixth No.6 it took him two shots to get out of the greenside bunker.
Two holes later, he played a perfect fade on his drive on the par-four eighth, leaving him with a short wedge into the green. He knocked his approach close and rolled in a birdie, one of the three that he had on Thursday.
Brian Campbell was in Hossler’s foursome on Thursday and he finished 1-over for Mater Dei to finish the week at 4-under. He was 3-under par on Monday at Spring Valley Lake Country Club to help the Monarchs win the Diamondback Tournament in Victorville. And then on Wednesday he shot a 2-under 35 at Alta Vista Country Club.
“He is doing all the things that we need him to do from the standpoint of his play,” Martin said. “And then his leadership is really strong. He is trying to help the guys handle the pressure. He is giving us a ton.”
Thursday’s loss makes the Monarchs two matches against Servite next week all that more important. The Monarchs have to at least win one of them to have any chance at even sharing the Trinity League title.
Servite will play host to Mater Dei on Wednesday at Western Hills. The following day, the two-time and defending CIF-SS champion Friars will travel to Santa Ana Country Club.
“No matter what the outcome of this would have been. We still want to win those matches (against Servite),” Martin said. “And we know that we have to win both to have a chance to win the league title. And I know the kids are going to play their best, so we can have a chance to pulling out those victories.”
