COBB — High school golf in Lake County is back on the menu after a long COVID-19 pandemic fast.
“It was a real feel-good day,” said longtime Kelseyville High School golf coach John Berry, the tournament director on Wednesday as the six teams that make up the Coastal Mountain Conference South in 2021 opened up their season with a match at the par-68 Adams Springs Golf Course on Cobb Mountain. “It was nice to get back to doing sports again. It was nice to get back to being semi-normal again. It was a good day for Coastal Mountain Conference golf.”
Plenty of parents were in the gallery, many of them pressed into driving their children to the course because most public schools won’t transport them during the current school year.
The golfers couldn’t have asked for much better weather, according to Berry. The temperature was in the low 70s with light winds.
Fast greens were one challenge for golfers at Adams on Wednesday, but not the biggest one, according to Berry.
“There were a lot of cobwebs out there,” Berry said. “Some of these guys haven’t been active in two years.”
2019 was the last full golf season in the Coastal Mountain Conference. The 2020 campaign had just started when it was stopped dead in its tracks because of the coronavirus spread, prompting a statewide call to cancel the remainder of the sports season.
“We had played just one conference match,” Berry said of the 2020 season. “A lot of these guys haven’t had a chance to do much since then.”
Fortunately golf is one of those sports where social distancing is not a problem, similar to cross country.
“It’s pretty safe in this pandemic,” Berry said. “Golfers are spread all over the course.”
With St. Vincent, the dominant team in the CMC South for the last decade, moving to another league this year, the field is wide open in 2021 as far as the conference race. St. Helena took the early lead by winning on Wednesday, the Saints posting a team score of 368 (the combined four lowest rounds) to finish in front of Middletown at 399, Clear Lake at 423, Kelseyville at 431, Credo at 449 and Technology at 450.
Middletown’s Austin Pritchard fired the low round of 80. Kelseyville’s Cory Holt was at 83, Renn Bothof of St. Helena finished with 88, and Clear Lake’s Nathon Lopez had a 90.
“I think he feels he could have done better,” Berry said of Holt, the No. 1 player for the Knights. “I’m sure Austin feels the same way.”
Pritchard carded a birdie during his round.
Also for runner-up Middletown, Cooper Johnson finished with 101 and Austin Guzman and Dom Williams each had 109.
Third-place Clear Lake was led by Lopez. Also for the Cardinals, Miles Mattina carded a 100, Peyton Ewing had 108, and Rylee Mix finished at 125.
Besides Holt for the Knights, Lander Hockett had 106, Michael Wiser carded a 117, and Caden Prather had 125.
Ethan Park led Technology with a 93 and Credo’s Ty Schoeningh had 107.
While the golf season is only eight weeks long this year and there will be no section, NorCal and state playoffs, the CMC South will hold a two-round conference championship at season’s end and will name its All-CMC South team following that.
Despite all the COVID-19 delays, hardships and heartache for high school athletes since the spring 2020 season, Berry said he was determined coming into the CMC South’s 2021 campaign to make it as normal as possible.
“We’re going to treat it like other seasons (before 2020),” Berry said. “I want these guys to have the same chance as other kids did.”
The CMC South resumes action Tuesday at Sugarloaf Golf Club in Santa Rosa. Tee times start at 1:30 p.m.