It was Labor Day Monday back in 1998 when the doorbell rang at the Berry residence around 7 p.m. I answered the door and there before me stood Jonathan Carlson, a three-year starter on the Rincon Valley Christian High School golf team as well as a member of their state championship boys” basketball team.
I had watched from a close distance as Carlson quickly developed into RVC”s best golfer. He was sort of a lone wolf on a golf team of below-average golfers and after matches he would often hang out with some of the better golfers from Kelseyville High School, namely Shawn Auten and Brels Solomon, to talk golf. He also played several times in the summer in the Buckingham Junior and the Lake County Junior, explaining that his grandmother lived in the area.
That evening, when I opened the door, I immediately observed that Jonathan had a big grin on his face. He held out his arms in an outstretched way, looked me in the eye, and proudly announced, “I”m here.” I looked at Jonathan somewhat suspiciously and said, “Yes, I know you”re here ?” He responded and stated, “No, I”m really here. I”m transferring to Kelseyville High. I”m going to live with my grandmother and I”m going to play on the golf team. I heard that if you”re on the golf team you get a shag bag filled with practice balls, so I”ve come to get my practice stuff.”
Still not knowing whether to believe Jonathan or not, I took him to my garage, got out one of the KHS shag bags, filled it up with golf balls, and sent him on his merry way. I wasn”t really sure what to believe. Why would you leave Rincon Valley Christian to go to Kelseyville? Why would you leave your parent”s home and move in with your grandmother? Why would you walk away from your spot on the state”s best Division V basketball team?
That spring of 1999, golf practice commenced and there was Jonathan along with a pretty green team. Solomon, Auten, Aaron Speed, Eric Valentine, Seth McMillan and Andy Andresen had all graduated. We had a high-strung sophomore on the roster, Nick Hamilton, who had great potential. Junior Jake Burgess and senior Jack Koschik had limited varsity experience. Jon Brockway and Jason Mack were total newbies. Even with Carlson, we were the third or fourth best team in our league, at least on paper.
The season began and Carlson openly marveled about the intensity of the Kelseyville program. On the way back from the Lompoc Tournament, he got a big laugh from his new teammates when he remarked, “Until today, the best team I”d ever played against was Kelseyville.”
Things clicked well for KHS golf in the spring of 1999. Other schools in the CMC lost good players to grades and attitude, and when all was said and done, we were 31-4, won league, and advanced to the North Coast Section at Sunol Valley, where we were quickly eliminated. It was a fun year, it was a great group of guys, and I still have a neat picture of all of us standing in the pouring rain behind the fourth green at Spyglass Hill.
Carlson went on to play junior college at Napa and then played for NCAA Division III powerhouse Point Loma University just north of San Diego. Upon graduation, Jonathan started playing in NCGA point tourneys throughout Northern California. He met some success, winning the Hidden Valley Lake Amateur last summer and captured the Santa Rosa Two Man a couple of weeks later. In October, he won the Lake County Amateur at Adams Springs.
This year Carlson took another step up the amateur golfing ladder, qualifying for the California State Amateur. His State Am experience wasn”t all roses though as he suffered in the first round at Monterey Peninsula as gale force winds impacted part of the field. In August, he and Jess Stimack repeated as Santa Rosa Two Man champs and he came up short in the qualifier as Pasatiempo for the United States Amateur.
Last weekend, Jonathan Carlson had one of those “in the zone” experiences. On Saturday and Sunday, he shot 65 and 71 in the Sonoma County Amateur at Foxtail to win by two. Shooting 8-under in an NCGA event is a big deal, but the best was yet to come.
On Monday, Jonathan teed it up at Fountaingrove in Santa Rosa in a regional qualifier for the United States Mid-Amateur. A high-caliber field of 52 golfers, including Randy Haag, Chris Aliaga, David Rathjen and Kevin Kobalter, were vying for the top three spots to advance to the nationals at the end of September at world-renown Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in coastal Oregon.
Through 16 holes, Carlson stood at even par and was in fourth place. He promptly birdied the downhill, watery par-3, 215-yard 17th hole and put an exclamation point on his round by making birdie on the par-4 18th. His birdie-birdie finish vaulted him into first place, one of three golfers in the field to break par. More importantly, Jonathan was headed to Bandon Dunes, the first Lake County resident to qualify for a USGA event.
I would love to venture up north to caddie for Jonathan at Bandon Dunes, a 54-hole golf complex that I have favorably compared to Pebble Beach. Alas, I have a real job supervising girls” volleyball games, passing out lunch numbers, and officiating flag football. Yet should Jonathan win the Mid-Am and get that cherished invite to the 2008 Masters, you can be sure that I”ll be finding a way to get to Augusta National.
After all, this is really big stuff. It”s even bigger than playing Kelseyville in a high school golf match.
