PETALUMA >> Kelseyville High School junior Matt Wotherspoon just missed on Monday during the North Coast Section Division II Golf Championships at Rooster Run Golf Course in Petaluma.
Wotherspoon, named the most valuable player on the All-Coastal Mountain Conference South team this season, was trying to secure one of 12 available berths into the Tournament of Champions next Monday at Chardonnay Golf Club in American Canyon. He ended up in a four-way playoff that decided the final three berths after tying College Prep’s Alex Lin, Bishop O’Dowd’s Thomas Flynn and Redwood Christian’s Moses Greene with regulation rounds of 74 on the par-72 course.
Lin birdied the first playoff hole to finish 10th overall in the individual standings while Flynn and Greene secured the final two berths. Wotherspoon hit his driver out of bounds on the playoff hole and ended up with a double-bogey seven.
“I’m pleased with the way Matt played,” said Kelseyville head coach and NCS Tournament Director John Berry. “He just couldn’t bring it home at the end.”
Grant Fairbairn of College Prep fired a 7-under-par 65 for the day’s low round, even after he was penalized two shots for hitting the wrong golf ball.
Fairbairn and another golfer were both playing Titleist 1s on the same hole and both golfers hit the wrong ball, according to Berry, even though they each had identifying marks on their Titleists to avoid such confusion. They returned to the spot where the first mishit took place and completed the hole after being assessed two-stroke penalties.
Other under-par rounds went to Ryan Lu of Moreau Catholic and Tony Torres of St. Mary’s-Berkeley with 70 and to Josh Holmes of St. Bernard (Eureka) and Aaron Levit of Branson with 71.
Other individual qualifiers into the Tournament of Champions were Deven Ramachadron of Branson, Jonathan Wu of Head-Royce, Bivek Vasireddy of American High School, and Elliot Bunyaviroch of Lick-Wilmerding, all with 1-over-par 73.
Among other CMC South golfers in the field, Justin Peck of St. Vincent finished with 78, Carson Kalbfleisch of Geyserville had 80, Hayden Sust of Middletown carded an 88, and Clear Lake’s Sam Long and Brenden Allen finished with 107 and 119, respectively.
Bishop O’Dowd won the team championship with 302, edging out Branson (304). In a tight battle for third place, College Prep (322) edged out Marin Catholic (324), St. Vincent (327) and Head-Royce (328). The top three teams receive section pennants, plaques and individual medals.
