Warriors win first two league golf matches of 2016

Neither of this season's first two Valley League matches for the Fallbrook High School boys golf team were home competitions, but the Warriors won both contests.

Fallbrook's second overall match of the 2016 season was on Feb. 24 against Mission Vista at the Camp Pendleton course, and the Warriors triumphed by a 215-255 score. Fallbrook improved to 2-0 in league competition and 6-2 overall March 16 with a 218-233 victory over Valley Center at the Pauma Valley Country Club.

Six members of each school's golf team play a nine-hole round. The high individual score is discarded and the other five rounds constitute the team score. The Warriors, who lost three 2015 seniors from last year's team, currently have a seven-player varsity roster consisting of three seniors, one junior, two sophomores, and one freshman. "It's still a little bit young," said Fallbrook coach Steve Jorde.

Because a team has no control over the opponent's score, the team score rather than whether the squad won or lost is the significant benchmark. Fallbrook opened its season Feb. 23 against El Camino on the Arrowood course in Oceanside and lost by a 197-201 margin. "First match of the year, that was a good score," Jorde said.

The Warriors' other loss was on Feb. 29 when La Costa Canyon had a team score of 184 on the Encinitas Ranch course and the Fallbrook golfers had a score of 200. "That was a good score for us. They had a kid shoot 31 that day," Jorde said.

That relegated the 33-stroke round of Fallbrook senior Patrick Milton to second among individuals, but Milton's score was one stroke shy of the school record of 32 set by Josh Underseth and Colin Featherstone. "It was a great round," Jorde said.

Christian Murphy and Bobby Sneller are the other two Fallbrook seniors. Jake Guy is a junior. Sebastian Winfield is a sophomore who was on last year's varsity. Daniel Milton is a sophomore who played baseball in 2015 but has joined his older brother on the links. Keller Hagen made Fallbrook's varsity as a freshman.

Two Fallbrook players had scores of under 40 strokes against El Camino: Guy completed his nine holes in 38 shots and Patrick Milton took 39 drives and putts. Sneller had the low score of 38 against Mission Vista.

On March 8, the Warriors traveled to The Vineyard at Escondido for a match against San Pasqual. Fallbrook's 203-233 victory included Milton's low round of 36 strokes.

No Fallbrook player broke 40 strokes March 9 when the Warriors faced Rancho Buena Vista at the Shadowridge course, but Fallbrook still prevailed by a 218-225 margin. Murphy and Sneller each took 41 strokes.

Fallbrook's home matches are at the Pala Mesa course, and the Warriors' first home match of the year was a 219-244 victory March 10 against El Camino. Murphy had the Warriors' low score with a 38-stroke round.

Although the Fallbrook Golf Club is now closed to the public, the Warriors' junior varsity team coached by Neil Medlock still uses that course. "That's nice that they're leaving that open for him," Jorde said.

Camp Pendleton was the site of Fallbrook's March 15 match at Vista. The Warriors' 197-250 triumph included scores of 36 by Guy and 38 from both Winfield and Sneller.

The win over Valley Center was the Warriors' fifth consecutive victory. Winfield took 39 strokes to lead the Fallbrook golfers.

"We have some good big matches coming up, but I think we're going to be okay this year," Jorde said.