It’s been a couple of great weeks on the links for Daniel Eagle of Clearlake, a former All-Conference golfer at Middletown High School and a past Lake County Junior champion. Eagle is currently a sophomore at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. For the past two years he has been a top performer on the school’s golf team. During the past two weeks his game has traveled to new heights as his stellar play has helped lead the Thunderbirds to the National Junior College Athletic Association National Finals beginning on Tuesday in Newton, Kansas.
The community colleges and the junior colleges in California are not a part of the NJCAA. California two-year colleges compete among themselves. The golfing women have an autumn schedule while the men are currently competing in the final stages of their spring schedule. The rest of the country is a part of the NJCAA. The big difference between the California junior colleges and those in the rest of the country is that the NJCAA schools are allowed to compete in a fall and spring season, with the quest for a national championship occurring at the conclusion of the spring season. The California schools don’t compete nationally.
New Mexico Junior College qualified for the NJCAA Southwest Regionals two weeks ago. The Southwest was held at the Tanglewood Golf Resort in Pottsboro, Texas. A top-five finish would get New Mexico Junior onward to the next stage for the District II Championship at Diamondback Golf Club in Abilene, Texas. New Mexico Junior College finished third at the Southwest and Eagle came in 17th overall. Counting the low four out of five scores, New Mexico Junior College carded rounds of 297-296-297 for a 26-over-par team total of 890.
Advancing down the road to Abilene, the Thunderbirds looked rock solid after two rounds of play. The way most college golf tournaments work is that the teams play 36 holes the first day and then a final 18 holes during the second day. This format is pretty consistent with not only national junior golf tournaments, but also four-year colleges competitions. Anyway, after the first two rounds were recorded, New Mexico Junior’s hold on a top-five finish took a serious detour. The top golfer on the squad, Marty Sanchez of Santa Fe, had posted scores of 68 and 69 for a 5-under-par total. However, after all of the scores were posted, tournament officials discovered an issue that was not going to help the cause of New Mexico Junior. For whatever reason, Sanchez had forgotten to sign his scorecards from the first two rounds. His two opening rounds were suddenly disqualified and New Mexico Junior would have to rely on its No. 5 man to count in the team totals for the first 36 holes. Suddenly, New Mexico Junior was on the outside looking in and would need a Herculean effort to finish among the top five schools. They were 20-over-par and mired in seventh place.
Round three rolled around and this time Sanchez not only shot a 69, but he also had the foresight to sign his scorecard. The next two New Mexico Junior scores were a combined 1-over-par and the Thunderbirds were now 1-under-par for the day and still out of the top five. Then Eagle came in. Following rounds of 74 and 72, he elevated his game one notch up the rung and carded a 2-under-par 69. Eagle ended up tied for nine place overall and at the conclusion of play received his medal as a 2015 National Junior College All-American. More importantly, his 69 was just enough to put New Mexico Junior in the top five at Abilene. After recording rounds of 300 and 288 during the first 36 holes, the team recovered with a final-round 3-under-par 281 for a fifth-place team finish. The Thunderbirds made it by exactly four shots and former Middletown High School star Daniel Eagle was an integral part of his team’s success. Four shots over 54 holes among four players is basically one-third shot per round.
After the Nationals in Kansas next week, Eagle hopes to continue his education as well as continue to play golf at the collegiate level. He hasn’t yet committed to playing at a specific four-year college although at this moment he has expressed interest in attending the University of Colorado at Pueblo next year. Best wishes go out to Daniel Eagle, a very talented collegiate golfer. As an added bonus, Eagle is someone who is just as great a young man as he is a golfer.
Locally, the high school golf season has come to its conclusion for those students who played for Kelseyville, Middletown and Clear Lake high schools in the Coastal Mountain Conference. League play concluded the prior week at Oakmont with St. Vincent of Petaluma winning the conference title for the sixth consecutive year and advancing to the North Coast Section playoffs at Blue Rock Springs in Vallejo this past Monday. Riley Adams and Chasen Tom of Middletown High School also qualified for the NCS playoffs as individuals alongside Ryan Johnson of St. Helena, the top golfer in the league. Matt Wotherspoon of Kelseyville High School, the freshman of the year in the CMC, just missed qualifying for the playoffs, losing out in the end to Chasen Tom by one stroke. Three individuals from each league advance to NCS.
At Blue Rock Springs, St. Vincent finished in ninth place among the 12 teams participating. Alex Graham, their top golfer, shot a 78 and the other three scores for St. Vincent were in the mid-80s. Chasen Tom recorded a 79 while Riley Adams shot an 81. Ryan Johnson turned in a 75 and found himself in a seven-way playoff for the last four individual spots for this Monday’s Tournament of Champions at the Tony Lema Golf Course in San Leandro. Alas, Johnson, a junior at St. Helena who has twice advanced to the TOC, was unable to do so this time, making a bogey on the first playoff hole while getting eliminated.
Finally, my daughter Emily has never been a big fan of the game of golf. While her brother and sister played golf at Kelseyville High School, she spent her spring seasons as the catcher on the softball team. There just wasn’t enough action for her while playing golf compared to other sports. Currently an assistant basketball coach at Cal State East Bay, Emily had a unique assignment this past week. CSU East Bay is hosting the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Regional at Hiddenbrooke Country Club in Vallejo. Her school assigned her to work there last week and she ended up shuttling groups of players from the green to the next tee at various holes. She sent me a myriad of texts and pictures, duly impressed with the strategic beauty of the Arnold Palmer-designed course. In the end, she’ll be drawn into the game. After all, it’s only a matter of time before her jump shot becomes a set shot and those 19-year-olds will be running circles around her in practice. Just a matter of time …
