Chipping in to meet expectations

GOLF In familiar territory, the golfers won their tenth consecutive league championship.

Johnny Wang, Sports Editor|May 22, 2019

After a 10-0 sweep in the Mt. Baldy League and several tournament titles under their belt, the Diamond Bar High School boys golf team stepped into both CIF individuals and CIF team division with their heads held high.

The season concluded on April 29, the day the Brahmas picked up its 10th straight league championship.

“Going into the new league, we knew we would take the league champ title even without our top six [players],” senior Sam Cho said.

 The boys have not lost a single league game in four years, under head coach Tony McCabe’s guidance. Cho, who has been on the varsity team since his freshman year, won league MVP as well as the league individual title.

Seniors Cho and Brian Chiu, as well as juniors Leo Lu and Ethan Thomas, all competed at the CIF individual divisionals at Canyon Crest Course in Riverside on May 9.

Cho shot a 78, which was three over par, to qualify for CIF individual finals, but he missed state regionals by three strokes, shooting a 79 when a 76 was needed to qualify  Lu and Thomas both shot a 77, one stroke more than the cut-off score of 76 needed to qualify for CIF Finals, while Chiu shot a 82.

Though Cho was the only one to advance to CIF individual finals, the team placed second out of 17 teams in the CIF Western Divisionals on May 13.

“We all focused on our own game and all did what was best for the team,” Thomas said.

Thomas shot a career low of 71, one below par, to lead the team to their second place standing, five points behind first place. Freshman David Cho and his brother Sam shot a 74, Lu and freshman Josh Chen shot a 78 and Chiu shot a 80 to bring the Brahmas’ overall score to 375.

By placing second, the team advanced to the CIF Finals, where they could qualify for the May 23 Southern California Golf Association divisionals and play against all the teams in SoCal.

“Although we didn’t win, we played very well, set a tone, and learned what we must do to do well the next round,” Cho said. “We all stayed focused through till we finished, and we tried to minimize mistakes that would impact our score heavily.”

However, at the CIF Finals on May 16, the Brahmas didn’t play at their best, as Lu shot the best with a 77. They played against the top teams at Goose Creek Golf Course in Mira Loma and shot an overall 397.

“Going into the second round, we didn’t know what to expect and we didn’t play well at all. I feel that we’ll come back a lot stronger next year,” Lu said.

Not only are the boys hoping to claim another league title to continue their streak next year, but also they hope to compete at the state level.