Santa Barbara High's Jonathan Collins carded a one-under 70 at Rancho San Marcos on Thursday.
Beau Hossler and his Santa Margarita Eagles are the new Southern Section CIF champions after the junior scored a six-under 65 at Rancho San Marcos Golf Course to lead his team to a winning round of 363.
Long Beach Wilson (370), Great Oak (373) and Santa Barbara High (374) joined Santa Margarita in qualifing for the SCGA Championship on May 31 at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena.
Santa Barbara High’s Jonathan Collins matched Long Beach Wilson’s Andrew Morgan and Chase Nicolai as the only other golfers under par with 70.
The Dons edged Mater Dei by three strokes for the final SCGA spot thanks to rounds of 73 from Mickey Kirby and 75 from James Morton alongside Collins’ 70.
“Just really excited that we get to extend this season a little bit longer,” said Santa Barbara High coach James Bedard. “So happy for the seniors. Mickey especially, just played out of his mind and, Jonathan, just a great round.”
There were 21 teams competing for the sectional championship, with the top four moving on.
Hossler started strong by posting birdies on three of his first four holes. He was already five under through 10 holes and held steady despite the day getting hotter.
The players teed off under the cover of fog but the sun and wind increased their intensity as the day went on. Tempuratures were in the low 80s with a steady breeze when players were finishing their days around 2 p.m.
“The key today was basically hitting the fairways,” Hossler said. “This course has some high rough and some weeds and everything on the side so if you keep the ball in the fairway and get off to a hot start while it’s not windy you can really take it low.”
Collins came through for Santa Barbara with an eagle late in his round that helped keep the Dons in front of Mater Dei.
“Between shots I don’t think about golf at all because if I think too much about golf I over-analyze and I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Collins explained.
Santa Barbara's Spencer Mikles hits out of a bunker on the 18th hole
Dos Pueblos recorded an eighth-place finish with a score of 380. Seniors Carson Curtis and Nick DeHeras led the Chargers with 74s.
“I’m happy,” DeHeras said. “It could have been better, but it could have been worse too.”
While the Chargers won’t be moving on as a team, DeHeras will be representing Dos Pueblos at Monday’s CIF Individuals.
Hossler will not be playing in the CIF Individual Tournament because he will competing in a U.S. Open qualifier.
