‘Bad News Bears of golf’ fired up to make run at SoCal Regionals

A year ago, Rancho Bernardo High School’s girls were five shots away from qualifying for the state golf championships.

Five shots.

The teams that beat them swept the top three spots in the state, with Torrey Pines edging Santa Margarita 375-378 for the title and Orange Lutheran finishing third at 382.

Although those same three teams will be prohibitive favorites to repeat in the Southern California Regionals starting Thursday at Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills, Rancho Bernardo coach Robert Park is hopeful.

“No one in California comes close to those three programs,” said Park. “The competition is good but not insurmountable. We performed adequately at CIF (the section championships last week) and after Day 1, we were in a good position. We played better on Day 2.

“Winning was irrelevant. Our program is at the point where we expect to win, but winning isn’t our overruling mission. Our goal is to develop strong young ladies while having a good time as a team. We know we’re going to win, but we don’t want to win at all costs.

“When the (section) championships were over, we had a lot of coaches come up to us who said we had the best attitude of any team in the tournament. Everyone on the team congratulated each other and then came the most important question: Where were we going for dinner?”

Now in his third year with the team, Park proudly points out that one of the reasons the team gets along so well is they all live in the community and 70 to 80% of them golf at The Heights, the Broncos’ home course.

The goal isn’t to become a tour professional or even to be a star on the college team; it’s to have a good time in high school while playing golf at the highest level.

They are facing an uphill battle competitively in the SoCal Regionals.

“This is really the state championship,” Park said. “Southern California is so strong, and two of the three schools (parochial schools Santa Margarita and Orange Lutheran) openly admit they recruit. Add to that, the Southern Section championships are held at Los Serranos GC.

“We talk about the psychology and physiology of the game, of going out there and enjoying yourself. Everyone is going to have a bad hole or two, but it’s moving on and leaving it behind you.”

The top five among the six-person teams score, and Park says he never knows where those six will finish relative to each other.

In the section finals, sophomore Amanda Peng and freshman Lillian Phee tied for fourth at 4-over par. Senior captain Madelyn Reyes tied for 14th at 9-over, while the team’s other senior, Kayla Geng was 18th at 11-over. On this day, sophomore Sophia Roxas was 39th at plus-24 and Leila Prairie was 43rd at 26-over.

“Here’s the thing,” said Park, “Leila had to fight to earn her position on the team, and there are days when she can shoot anywhere between 70 and 80. She could be No. 6 or No. 3.

“In order for us to qualify for state, everybody has to have the round of their life. If they all shot even par, it would be a phenomenal day. We have such a great team dynamic that each of them wants to enjoy the experience and if they all play well, who knows?

“The goal is to move on and get a chance to play Poppy Hills (for the state championships). These girls’ lives are not centered on golf, although they all enjoy playing. Others in the field will have a lot of pressure on them, but not these girls.”

Park says the only time the team played at Los Serranos was in a recent practice round, although most of the team got familiar with the course a year ago.

“Yes, some of the other teams know that course well, but I didn’t think we’d gain that much going up there to play,” he said. “I know they’d rather play Torrey Pines.

“We’re like the Bad News Bears of golf, a group of kids from the community. Although those three schools are the ones to beat, you never know. We’ll just go have some fun.”