Crystal Springs Uplands School captures Central Coast Section golf crown

To prove that wasn’t a fluke, Crystal Springs, led by freshman Edan Cui, went out and captured the Central Coast Section team tournament title with a five-player score of 377, just ahead of Lynbrook’s 282 and a 389 from Stevenson, at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey Tuesday afternoon.

All three teams qualified for the Northern California regional tournament at Berkeley Country Club in El Cerrito, Monday, May 23.

“They were extremely happy,” said Brian Klemm, Crystal Springs’ first-year head coach, who was a junior player in his youth and played Division I college golf at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

“[CCS] does a good job of not letting scores leak. We thought maybe we had a one-stroke lead, but we were just kind of guessing. We didn’t know if we were going to win or not.

“I’m fortunate. The kids are all extremely hard workers.”

Cui, who is ranked 63rd by the American Junior Golf Association, finished third in the individual standings, shooting a 1-over 72. Overall, the Gryphons had all five of their scoring golfers finish in the top-25. KC Mungali was only a stroke back of Cui, finishing in a three-way tie for fifth with a 2-over 73. Russell Chiu tied for 17th with a round of 5-over 76, while Philip Hu and Griffin Chiu were among seven golfers to tie for 22nd with 7-over 78s.

“Over the last year and a half, [Hu] has improved dramatically,” Klemm said. “He hits the ball so hard. … He’s really coming into his own.”

Ethan Lee, Crystal Springs’ sixth golfer, finished with a 90 and did not factor into the team scoring, which takes only the top-five scores from each team.

Lee had been the Gryphons' No. 3 golfer all season, until a late-season wrist injury initially shut him down for the season. For the CCS final, Lee decided to give it a go and not surprisingly, struggled.

“That golf course, it’s very easy to shoot high numbers on it,” Klemm said. “Making putts is very difficult and there is just a lot of weird trouble.”

The Serra team just missed out on qualifying for the Nor Cal regional with a fifth-place finish, but the Padres did have a pair qualify individually. William Walsh, who barely made the championship round after struggling to a 79 in the No. 2 qualifying round last week, improved dramatically in the final, finishing second with an even-par 71, one shot behind winner Anton Ouyang of Lynbrook, who won for the second year in a row.

Joining Walsh is Trevor Moquin, who finished in a tie for third with Cui after a round of 1-over 72.

Aidan Lew finished tied for 30th with an 80 for Serra, Dominic Silver carded an 87, Chris Zeidan finished with an 88 and Owen Callahan a 95.

The Crystal Springs team, along with Walsh and Moquin, were the only county golfers to advance to the Nor Cal tournament. Menlo School’s Eric Yun and Aragon’s Sam Higaki both finished in a tie for eighth with rounds of 3-over 74, just missing the qualifying cut of 73. Hillsdale’s Alejandro Formosa finished with a 7-over 78 to tie for 22nd. Thomas Molumphy of Sacred Heart Prep finished tied for 30th with a round of 80, while Aragon’s Isaiah Lott carded an 88.