Haenel shoots 73 for medalist honors in WSC No. 1

Igor Haenel shot a 1-over 73 on Monday to share medalist honors in the first WSC men's golf tournament at Valencia Country Club.

Haenel, a sophomore from Hard, Austria, tied Hugo Amsallem of Canyons for first place. The 73 was a career low for Haenel, whose previous best was 78. Mason Teron of Ventura and Jacob Valente of Antelope Valley tied for third at 75.

"It was my scrambling around the greens that kept me in it on the undulating greens," said Haenel.

The temperature was 53 degrees with 20-mph winds.

"That was one of the coldest tournaments I've ever been involved with," said SBCC coach Chuck Melendez. "It was a struggle on a very nice course. It's too bad we had to play it on a day like today. Our guys persevered and battled all day."

Canyons, the defending state champion, topped the eight-team field with 389 strokes. Ventura was 19 strokes back at 408 and SBCC was a close third at 410. The Vaqueros were the state runner-up last year and two players, Haenel and Preston Gomersall, return from that squad that went 146-20.

Gomersall, who won last week's season-opening Pt. Conception Open, shot 81 on Monday. Matt Pate and Blake Bornand added 84s.

"We knew Canyons and Ventura would be tough this year," said Melendez. "The Canyons coach said this might be the best team he's ever had and Ventura returns a lot of guys from last year.

"We have a lot of room for improvement. I really think we have three or four guys who are capable of winning a tournament."

The Vaqueros return to the links next Monday in WSC No. 2 at Oakmont CC in Glendale.

WSC No. 1
At par-72 Valencia CC
 Team -- 1, Canyons 389. 2, Ventura 408. 3, SBCC 410. 4, Glendale 424. 5, Antelope Valley 429. 6, Bakersfield 432. 7, Hancock 460. 8, Citrus 463.
 Medalist (par 72) -- 1 (tie), Igor Haenel, SBCC, 73; Hugo Amsallem, Canyons, 73. 3 (tie), Mason Teron, Ventura, 75; Jacob Valente, AVC, 75. 5 (tie), Chayon Duha, Canyons, 76; Matty Wilson, Canyons, 76.
 SBCC scores -- 1 (tie), Haenel 73. Preston Gomersall 81, Matt Pate 84, Blake Bornand 84, Isaac Stone 88, Preston Foy 89.
 WSC standings -- 1, Canyons 7-0. 2, Ventura 6-1. 3, SBCC 5-2. 4, Glendale 4-3. 5, Antelope Valley 3-4. 6, Bakersfield 2-5. 7, Hancock 1-6. 8, Citrus 0-7.
 SBCC overall record -- 19-5.