Golf season ends at Los Serranos

The 2016 golf season came to an end for the Gauchos on Monday (April 25) during the Orange Empire Conference championship rounds at the Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills.

Saddleback was in a tight, three-way battle for third place in the conference standings with Cypress and Riverside for the final team berth into the Southern California Regional Championship but struggled during the long, windy day on the golf course.  The Gauchos finished fifth in the morning round with a score of 412 as Riverside (398) placed third and Cypress (405) placed fourth.  In the afternoon round, Saddleback (415) would place fourth and break the tie with Riverside (419) but Cypress (399) would place second to earn enough points to advance as the conference's third place team behind Orange Coast and Santiago Canyon colleges.

The Gauchos were immediately at a disadvantage during the conference championship as soon as they arrived at the course as No. 2 golfer Jack Lutz called in sick for the morning round, leaving Saddleback with only five golfers and having to count each score without the benefit of a throw-out score.  Sophomore Nick Prudhomme (pictured) and freshman Alex Diaz both shot respectable 5-over-par 79's on the lengthy south course as less than half of the field broke 80 in the early round.  Lutz would show up to compete in the afternoon round, carding an 81 for the team's second-best score.  Troy Ditzler would post an 8-over-par 80 to pace the Gauchos on the north course as only five golfers in the field would break 80 in chilly and windy afternoon conditions, none of them being Gauchos.  Sophomore Roberto Lievana suffered an injury that required him to pull out of the afternoon round, leaving the team with only five players again.

The withdrawal of Lutz and Lievana from one of the conference championship rounds also removed them from all-conference consideration given to the 10 golfers with the lowest averages during the entire season.  Prudhomme finished 11th in the conference scoring and missed all-conference recognition by two strokes over the duration of 10 rounds.  He had a scoring average of 77.8 this season.  Lutz had a scoring average of 77.7, Diaz averaged 78.7, and Lievana averaged 79.6.

Prudhomme and Ditzler each had a shot to qualify for the post-season as an individual at the regional championship but their 36-hole totals of 162 put them three strokes behind the day's qualifier coming out of the conference championship which ended up being a 159.