PREP GOLF : Palm Desert Defends Title as Walton (70) Leads Way

GOLETA, Calif. — A bit out of its element, Palm Desert nevertheless retained its CIF Southern Section team golf title Monday.

Last season, when Palm Desert won its first sectional title in any sport, it did so in neighboring Palm Springs on a hot desert course.

This time, the site--Sandpiper Golf Course next to the Pacific Ocean--wasn’t so familiar, but the Aztecs won anyway, easily.

They totaled 387, 10 shots better than second-place Santa Margarita. Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills was third with 398 and Westlake Village Westlake was fourth with 402. Westlake edged fifth-place Ventura Buena by a stroke for the final berth in the CIF-SCGA Championships June 7 at Stockdale Country Club in Bakersfield.

Palm Desert wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the often windy Sandpiper course, having stopped by for a practice round on the way home from a spring-break tournament in Northern California.

On that day, senior Mike Walton shot a 74, despite a strong wind. Calm prevailed Monday and Walton shot 70, two under par and the low round of the day.

“Mike doesn’t make very many mistakes,” Palm Desert Coach Tim Kabeary said. “He’s a good enough player that if he double-bogeys a hole, he’ll come back and birdie another.”

Walton didn’t have a bogey Monday, though. He was one-under for each nine and had 16 pars and two birdies.

“I had a lot of par putts today, but I made a couple early and that just set the stage,” he said.

Santa Margarita, the only other team with three players in the 70s, was led by Kellee Booth (76), the top-ranked female junior golfer in the nation.