Servite's Valder is 2011 boys golfer of the year

He sat next to his coach talking about the boys golf season that had just past, agonizing over every stroke that he left on the course.

"I just didn't seem to be able to put up any really low numbers like a 32 or a ...," Servite senior Preston Valder said as his Coach Dane Jake interrupted him.

"Preston. Preston. You did shoot a 32," Jako said. "Remember? At Yorba Linda (Country Club)."

Valder stood corrected. But he was quick to point out that he opened that 3-under-par round with a three-putt bogey.

Ah, teenagers these days. They are just so hard to please sometimes. While Valder might think he left some strokes on the course, the Servite senior did enough to become the Register's boys golf player of the year.

He averaged 35.8 strokes in the nine-hole matches that he played during the season, which put him 0.8 below par, he was a 13-time medalist shooting a combined 7-under-par in those matches and he finished even-par through his three CIF postseason tournaments as he helped lead the Friars to their third consecutive Southern Section team championship.

The UCLA-bound Valder also placed second in the CIF-SS Southern Individual Regional, posting a 2-under-par 70 at Skylinks which made him only one of three golfers in the 102-player field to post a sub-par round.

"It has been an amazing ride with him. There's not a nicer kid out there," Jako said. "He always put his team first, and that has been the key to our success."

During Valder's varsity career, the Friars have become one of the top programs in the state, posting an 85-6 record. And they are once again among the favorites to win the SCGA So Cal Championships Tuesday at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena.

He continued the Friars' dominance in the Trinity League tournament, too. In April, he became the third consecutive Servite golfer to top the leader board in the 36-hole event at Candlewood Country Club.

That ranks as one of the highlights for the season for Valder because it features a field that includes some of the best junior golfers in the nation.

Valder beat Santa Margarita senior Kevin DeHuff, Hossler's teammate, in a sudden-death playoff that day after birdying his first extra hole. DeHuff, by the way, has made it to the Sectional Qualifying for the U.S. Open this year.

Beau Hossler, DeHuff's teammate was in the tournament too, and he's No. 16 in the most recent AJGA rankings, and just like DeHuff, he's also headed to the sectional qualifier on June 6 at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.

"I played well, this year. Not amazing but solid," Valder said. "The league tournament was a grind, so winning was very gratifying."