Southern Section Golf : Westlake’s Boys Gain Team Title on Tough Day and Very Difficult Course

How bad was it at the Industry Hills golf course Tuesday?

“It was so bad,� said Redlands senior Dave Stockton, “I hit my driver right down the middle of the fairway, and I’m in a bunker. The course is insane.�

How grueling? Ask Indio golf Coach Dennis Juhola: “Look at the undulations in the greens. Look at the wind. This course is totally insane.�

It was so tough, windy and humbling at the Southern Section team golf finals at Industry Hills that Westlake’s Chris Zambri finished his round with a 30-foot birdie putt and a bloody nose. “It just happened,� Zambri said through a towel, dabbing away. “I was just walking up the green.�

Zambri took the bloody nose with a grin. His three-over-par 75 was the low round in Westlake’s five-man score of 394, good enough for a second consecutive Southern Section team title.

Zambri’s bloody nose was a good indicator of Tuesday’s fare at Industry Hills--of 72 golfers, only 14 broke 80. Gusty conditions made the highly difficult Eisenhower course merciless to anything but precision play, especially off the tees.

“I’m happy with the way I played, but I hate these greens,� said Zambri, a junior, who also was his team’s low man in winning last year’s team title at La Cumbre in Santa Barbara. “Now we get to go home.�

Home is North Ranch Country Club, where Westlake will almost certainly win the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern California Golf Assn. championship in two weeks. The top four teams from the Tuesday’s tournament--Westlake, Indio, Huntington Beach and Beverly Hills--advance the SCGA at North Ranch, where Westlake has not lost a team match in four years. “I’d say we have a 10-15 stroke advantage, strictly from course knowledge,� Zambri said.

Course knowledge, admittedly, helped Los Altos’ Bob May to the day’s low round, a one-under-par 71.

“Just knowing the course gives me a big advantage over these guys,� said May, who has been busting par all over the place in the past week. Last Tuesday, May shot a one-under 143--second in the tournament--over both Industry Hills courses to qualify for the U.S. Open Regional June 9 at San Francisco Golf Club.

Saturday, May broke the Edgewood Country Club record with a six-under 66 and won the American Junior Golf Assn. Lake Tahoe Memorial. The 66 came off the championship blue tees and is a record for all players.

But May’s score Tuesday could not haul Los Altos, at 411, into the top four. Finishing five strokes behind Westlake at 399 was Indio, which prepared for Industry Hills by playing the stadium course at PGA West in La Quinta. PGA West’s stadium course, designed by Pete Dye, is rated America’s toughest.

“We played the stadium course, and this place is tougher,� said Juhola. “I’m telling you, this course is insane.�

Indio’s Joe Stack shot a 74, thought he could have shot a 69 and still said that Industry Hills is “extremely difficult.�

Nine strokes behind Indio, at 408, was Huntington Beach. Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara San Marcos tied at 409, but Beverly Hills won a playoff for fourth place and will advance to the SCGA.