Few Others on a Par With Angel

Darren Angel sports a plus-one handicap at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley.

To properly frame this accomplishment, consider that plus-one is better than scratch. It means that on a par-72 course, Angel is expected to average 71.

Also consider the lay of the land. Wood Ranch is so challenging that a PGA Senior Tour event held there a few years ago was moved to a different site because the pros viewed the course as too punitive.

“And they played (from) the white tees,” Angel said.

At this course, neophytes usually are as lost as their last duck-hooked Titleist.

“I tell people who haven’t played there that it’s a 12-ball course,” said Mitch Voges of Simi Valley, the 1991 U. S. Amateur champion. “You have to bring a few extras.”

It is Devil’s Island for almost everyone but Angel, a sophomore from Granada Hills High who many consider the best junior player from the San Fernando Valley floor in many years.

Angel (6 feet, 175 pounds) is a prisoner of his own celebrity. It’s difficult to sneak up on anybody when your name has been in the paper so often. Last summer, Angel won six junior tournaments nationwide, including the Southern California Junior PGA championship at Redlands Country Club. He was 15 at the time, the youngest player to win the event.

Pssst. Angel’s here.

“If I’m there, everybody knows it,” he said, sounding half embarrassed.

His game is already there, too, and everybody knows it.

Angel’s prodigious distance off the tee is well established in junior circles. He routinely drives the ball about 275 yards, enough to make some touring pros envious. The kid has license to drive, yet has no driver’s license.

“I keep ‘em pretty straight,” he said with a laugh. “I can usually find ‘em.”

Every so often, of course, he really gets hold of one. And every so often, he tests the stress capacity of his equipment.

The graphite shaft of Angel’s driver snapped at the neck on impact 2 1/2 months ago, forcing him to play with a three-wood. In a match against City Section 5-A League rival Taft on Wednesday--his 16th birthday--Angel ripped a three-wood 320 yards off the tee.

“I built him a three-wood that he hits a mile, now we can’t find him a driver that he can hit farther,” said Dave Allaire, Angel’s instructor and the head pro at Lakeside Country Club. “His strength is his strength.”

One of Angel’s biggest problems is finding players to test him. His best competition comes from his father, Dennis, who carries a one handicap at Wood Ranch. Dennis, a Pacific 10 Conference football official, also is Angel’s mentor.

“We go at each other pretty good,” Angel said. “It keeps me thinking the whole round when he’s playing.”

Most folks believe Angel will sleepwalk to three consecutive individual City titles.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Grant Coach Howard Levine said. “He’s the favorite; he’s at the head of the pack.”

Angel’s day-to-day goal would make most folks’ heads spin: He tries to break 70 in every round, a feat he has accomplished once in his first three high school matches. He has broken par twice.

Said Allaire, stating the obvious: “I think the kid’s got a great future.”

AREA TEAMS TO WATCH

Westlake (Marmonte): A pair of transfers have bolstered the Warrior roster, as if it wasn’t strong enough to begin with.

Few can argue that Westlake doesn’t have the best program in the region. Despite their third coach in four years, the Warriors again are expected to challenge for the Southern Section team title. Nothing new there--Westlake won the championship in 1986 and 1987 and was in the top five in 1985, 1988 and 1990.

Nearly all of the faces are new. One player returns, senior Ryan Arnett. Of the top six, three are sophomores and two are freshmen.

Sophomore Coji Ishii transferred to Westlake at the semester break from North Hollywood, as did his sister, Linda, a freshman. Coji last week shot an even-par 71 in a match at Simi Hills Golf Course, and Linda is expected to make a run at the girls’ section title.

Ross Fulgentis and Matt McCrite are freshmen who rank among the team’s top four, and both are veterans of the junior golf tournament circuit. Sophomores Brandon DiTullio and Jimmy Lee also are in the top six.

“These kids are young, but they’re really, really good,” assistant Dave Costley said.

Hart (Foothill) : Hart might have lost its best player, Jason Gore, now on scholarship at Arizona, but the Indians remain one of the two best teams in the region. And there are no down years in sight.

Of Hart’s top six, only basketball standout Matt Steffe is a senior. Steve Farris, a sophomore and returning starter, is the No. 1 player. Freshmen Scott Semelsberger and Scott Souza also are in the top four. Semelsberger shot a three-under 58 at Vista Valencia Golf Course last week.

Mike Scott, a sophomore who was cut last year, worked hard at honing his game. “He practiced harder than any player on the team,” Coach Dennis Ford said. “He got way better.”

In a battle of Southern Section title contenders, Westlake beat Hart last week in a nonleague match, 321-335, at the par-61 Vista Valencia. It was Hart’s first loss in 53 dual matches.

Simi Valley (Marmonte): The Pioneers, Southern Section titlists in 1984, might have had their best team this spring, Coach Jay Paris said, but the loss of several top players to academic ineligibility and illness has slowed the team’s progress.

Seniors Jake Breeze and Aaron Kilborn are returning starters, as is junior Jack Yates. Simi Valley will need major contributions from three sophomores, all newcomers, to make a run at Westlake.

Buena (Channel): Chad Wright, now a senior, is generally considered the best player in Ventura County. He already has signed to play next year at USC.

The team is solid in the next three places with senior Tyler Satchwell, junior Bob Smiley and freshman Nate Whitson. Beyond that, though, Buena might need a breakthrough performance from its untested players to challenge league favorites San Marcos, Santa Barbara and Rio Mesa.

Rio Mesa (Channel): One brother has replaced another as the Spartans’ top gun. Ryan O’Neil is a sophomore and the younger brother of 1992 standout Lawrence, now on scholarship at Houston.

O’Neil leads a group of returning starters that includes seniors Scott Michel, Pat Barrett and Bill Willis.

Rio Mesa has advanced to the Southern Section team finals the past two seasons and won the league title three years in a row before finishing second by a shot to Ventura last spring.

Alemany (Mission): First-year football Coach Pat Degnan also inherited the golf team. Unlike the football team, which won only one game, the golf squad will challenge for the league title.

Brothers Scott and Matt Heyn are among the elite. Scott, a senior, has been on the varsity for three years and is the No. 1 player. Matt, a freshman, is a 5-6, 170-pound fire hydrant whom Degnan refers to as “The Walrus.”

No. 2 man Jason Rosenfelt, a senior, also has varsity experience. Seniors Glen Musser, Brian Rooney and left-hander Martin Vasquez round out the top six.

Taft (City 5-A): Grant has unseated Taft as the powerhouse team in the City Section--at least over the short term.

Taft, a perennial contender, again seems poised to make a run at the team title, even though the team is painfully young.

The team’s top two players, juniors Scott Golditch and Art Weiner, are members of El Caballero Country Club, where the team plays many of its home matches. That gives Taft a considerable edge at home.

Grant (City 5-A): The Lancers have won back-to-back City team titles under Howard Levine. Though Grant is looking for help in the fifth and sixth positions, the team is expected to make a run at the title May 18-19 at Wilson and Harding golf courses in Griffith Park.

Josh Jacobs, a junior and returning starter, is the team’s best player. Two girls, senior Elise Kim and sophomore Allison Wilson, rank among the best junior girls in the Southland, Levine said. Juniors Aaron Agness and Josh Busby round out the top five.

Granada Hills (City 5-A): While Angel is expected to win the City individual title, Granada Hills also will make a run at the team championship.

Senior captain Keion Witherspoon is a three-year starter and a solid second man. LeRoy Bates, a transfer from Westchester High, is the third man.