Coach Is Cautious About Season

Like everyone else involved with girls’ high school golf in Southern California, Jim St. Hilaire is taking a wait-and-see approach to this season.

St. Hilaire, however, has more reasons than most.

Not only must he contend with a Southern Section rule change that significantly alters the way matches are scored, but St. Hilaire is also a first-year coach taking over at Redondo Union High, considered the top team in the Southland.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” St. Hilaire said. “Everyone around keeps telling me that I’ve got the team to beat.”

Redondo has seniors Elena Kurokawa and Elena Robles returning, giving the Seahawks one of the top one-two combinations in the short history of girls’ high school golf.

Kurokawa, ranked No. 47 in the nation by Golfweek Magazine, was a junior All-American last year and finished 2000 ranked No. 1 by the Southern California PGA. Robles was No. 13 in the 2000 SCPGA rankings and won the Ocean League individual championship as a sophomore.

With those two leading the way, Redondo has been undefeated in regular-season play the last two seasons; however, the Seahawks have fallen short in the playoffs. They finished ninth in the 1999 Southern Section finals and tied for fourth last year, missing a spot in the CIF-WSCGA finals by a tiebreaker.

It figures to be different this year.

Still, it’s no sure bet this year, even with two outstanding players at the top.

The section changed the scoring format in girls’ golf beginning this year to put it on equal footing with the boys’ game. In the past, girls’ teams counted the best three of four individual scores. This year, they will count the best five of six.

Simple math dictates that a deep team shooting five 85s will beat a top-heavy team that shoots two 65s and three 100s.

“It’s going to be very interesting with the new scoring,” St. Hilaire said. “Nobody really knows what to expect.”

St. Hilaire, who has a solid player in Marina Choi returning in the third spot, said the fourth and fifth players are going to make the difference.

“It’s going to be the same for everyone, though,” he said. “I think with our two dominant players at the top and a very good third player, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

Entering a season without Irvine University among the title contenders gives girls’ golf another new look.

Since high school girls’ golf began in 1998, University, behind Angela Won, Sunny Lee and Michelle Barth, won three of the five major team titles--section titles in 1998 and 2000, and the CIF-WSCGA title in 1999. There was no CIF-WSCGA championship in 1998.

But Lee and Barth graduated, leaving Won, a senior and a semifinalist in the 2000 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, looking for teammates to fill those big shoes.

“It’s kind of weird,” Won said. “We have girls that are OK, but compared to the last three years, it’s a lot different.”

Huntington Beach Marina figures to be in the title mix.

The Vikings have their top four players returning, including Sunset League runner-up Lisa Sweller, and have added transfer Kelly Hunt, the No. 1 player at Newport Beach Newport Harbor the last two years, and freshman Jennifer Osborn, a dominant force on the local junior scene the last few years.

“We have unlimited potential this year,” Coach Frank Ruotolo said. “We have a very strong top four.”

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, which finished ninth in the section finals last year, also looks like a contender.

Mayumi Kobayashi and Nikki Imaromna give the Knights a solid top two and Coach Rob DiMuro said his team will likely benefit from the change in scoring format.

“We’re excited that it expanded,” DiMuro said. “We’ve got a pretty deep team. Not spectacular, but deep.”

Notre Dame’s Mission League rival, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, lost CIF-WSCGA champion Ina Kim to graduation, but don’t count out the Wolverines. .Emma Stachowicz is coming off a good summer and Kathryne Cooper and Eunice Lee nicely fill the Nos. 2 and 3 spots.

Dana Hills, which missed advancing to the section finals by two strokes last year, returns four players, including senior Carling Cho, the 2000 Orange County player of the year. Peninsula transfer Jackie Kazarian adds depth.

Unlike last year, when many top girls skipped the individual finals to play a national junior tournament in Florida, the top players will likely participate in the high school events this season. The date for the individual finals, Nov. 27, does not conflict with the AJGA Polo Golf Classic, Nov. 19-24.

Look for Erica Blasberg of Corona, ranked No. 12 in the nation, to hold some hardware at season’s end. Irene Cho of Sunny Hills, ranked No. 26, will also be a force, if she plays. Sunny Hills does not field a girls’ team, so Cho would have to enter as an individual.

Others to watch are Kurokawa, Wonand Carling Cho, who tied for second in the section finals and third in the CIF-WSCGA finals last year. Aime Cochran of West Torrance and Villa Park’s Priscilla Park, who also tied for second in the section a year ago, will also return.

Jennifer Tangtiphiboontana of Long Beach Wilson has been a regular in the top 10 of the individual tournaments the last two years. Alice Kim of Brentwood and Tiffany Chudy of Temecula Valley are among the top sophomores.

Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach Edison, Jane Park of Crescenta Valley and Osborn of Marina should make the most impact as freshmen. Sommer Scholl and Nicole Smith of Riverside Martin Luther King are also among the top freshmen, but the school does not field a girls’ team.