Lequan Wang had been there before. Only this time he was determined to finish on top.
Lequan Wang
The Aragon sophomore indeed rose to the top of the field of the Peninsula Athletic League golf championships Tuesday at Half Moon Bay Golf Links, claiming the title with a 2-over 74 on the second day of the tournament. His two-day score of 151 gave him plenty of breathing room to top Hillsdale freshman Ale Formosa (second place, 154) and Burlingame freshman Ian Lai (third place, 156).
With Formosa coming on late, Wang was dueling with Lai most of the day. It was on 16 where the match was decided, as Wang made par while Lai took a double bogey. On 17, Wang delivered a veritable clincher, sinking a 50-foot birdie putt.
“I was hyped,” Wang said. “It was pretty much the game-winner because you have all the momentum heading to 18 up by 2. It’s pretty hard to lose that.”
Last season, Wang took second place at the PAL championships, falling 1 stroke shy of Burlingame’s Wyatt McGovern, who took the 2021 title.
“This year it feels really great to be on the opposite end of that story,” Wang said. “I was down the entire time, but I was actually able to pull it off.”
Wang entered the second day trailing Lai by 2 strokes, finishing Monday’s opening round with a 5-over 77. He trailed by as many as 4 strokes early Tuesday.
“[Wang] stepped it up with overall play,” Aragon head coach Guy Oling said. “In the first round he had a couple lip out, which dropped his score obviously. But to fight back from a couple strokes deficit to come back strong was great.”
By virtue of Aragon’s regular-season PAL Bay Division team championship, Wang had already qualified for the Central Coast Section golf championships beginning May 10 at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey. Lai also earned a CCS bid with Burlingame taking second place in league.
Five golfers on teams that didn’t earn CCS bids earned individual berths to play at Laguna Seca — Formosa, San Mateo juniors Parker Politte and Oscar Morganstern, Woodside senior Dylan Mack and Carlmont freshman Alister Jackson.
It was a rare feat for the top three PAL finishers all to be underclassman, Oling said.
“It’s one of those things, this is going to be a rivalry for a couple years now,” Oling said.
Politte took fourth place with a 157; Aragon junior Sam Higaki took fifth with a 158; Jackson took sixth with a 161; Aragon senior Isaiah Lott took seventh with 164; Burlingame freshman Zach Newman took eighth with a 165; Mack took ninth with a 169; and Burlingame senior Will Mendel took 10th with a 170.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Join the San Mateo Daily Journal in Fiesta Hall at the Community Expo at the San Mateo County Fair! Read moreSan Mateo Community Expo at the Fair
Join New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul for a lively discussion of her book Tou… Read moreBook Club with Author Caroline Paul
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.