Serra’s Vierneza leads San Mateo County contingent at Central Coast Section golf championships

Vierneza, who finished 10th in the West Catholic Athletic League championship, started his round with three straight pars before he went on a bit of ride. He bogeyed the par-4 fourth, but got the shot back with a birdie on the 499-yard, par-5 fifth. He then went bogey-birdie on six and seven, making the turn still at even.

He dropped to 1-over after a bogey on No. 10, but got back to even with a birdie on the 562-yard, par-5 13th. But bogeys on 15 and 16, followed by a pair of pars coming in, saw Vierneza signing his 2-over.

Despite the top-20 finish, it still was not good enough for Vierneza to advance to the Northern California regional next week. The top-four finishers not on the top-three teams — Stevenson, St. Ignatius and Gunn — qualified. Those four qualifying spots went to Mountain View’s Alex Skkora, who finished third with a 3-under 68; Harker’s Justin Hu, who was fifth overall with a 2-under 69; Valley Christian’s Mark Zhou was 10th overall with an even-round of 71. Mountain View’s Roshan Chandra grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 1-over 72.

Crystal junior Arden Xu finished in that group 3-over, officially placing 21st. He was 1-over starting on the 10th tee before adding two bogeys and a birdie on the front nine.

Heath, a junior, ended up tied for 24th with 10 other players, and officially 33rd with a 4-over 75. Heath was 2-under at the turn after birdies on Nos. 3 and 5 and in the hunt. But he found himself back to even after starting the back nine with bogeys on 10 and 11. A double-bogey 7 at the 550-yard 15th dropped him out of contention and he closed with another double on 18.

Joining Heath and that group of 10 who shot 4-over 75s was Nueva School sophomore Bence Ordody, who officially took 28th after tiebreakers were applied. He might have had the wildest round of the day.

Playing in the final group of the morning off the first tee, Ordody bogeyed the first hole, but rebounded with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3— a par 3 and par 5, respectively — but closed out his front nine with bogeys on six, seven and nine to make the turn at 2-over.

And then things got crazy for Ordody. He started the back nine with his fifth bogey of the day on No. 10, but got it back with a birdie on 11. After a par at the par-3 15th, Ordody had a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 13 to drop him to 4-over. that was followed by a birdie at 14, back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16, and another birdie at 17 before finishing his round with a par on 18.

Burlingame’s Leo Jun was one shot back of Heath and Ordody, finishing officially in 35th place with a 5-over 76, one of seven golfers to post that score. Jun — who did not make the cut for the PAL championships but still qualified for CCS as Burlingame won the PAL team title and was the only Panther to make the cut for Tuesday’s championship round — was in the first group starting on the 10th tee and was quickly 2-over after two holes. He added bogeys at No. 15 and No. 18 to head to the front nine 4-over. He eventually ballooned to 6-over after bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3. He got one shot back with a birdie on No. 5 and finished bogey-birdie on Nos. 8 and 9.

Crystal’s Eric Cheung finished in that group at 5-over, finishing official 40th.

Jun was the highest finisher from the Peninsula Athletic League. Graham Martin, a junior from Menlo-Atherton, and his teammate, senior Luke Carmel, both carded 6-over 77s, finishing in a group eight with the same score. Martin was official 44th. Martin, the PAL champ, was 4-over after starting on the back nine. He picked up his lone birdie at at the 508-yard, par-5 third, but finished with a bogey and double-bogey coming in.

Carmel, who was official 48th place, also started on the back nine and was even heading to the front. He started with a bogey on 10, but birdied 11 and 12, before a bogey on 18 dropped him back to even. He struggled on the front, however, with seven bogeys and two pars.

Nueva’s Morris Cheston also posted a 77, good for 48th place. He was 2-over after the ninth hole and moved to 1-over with a birdie on 10. But he played the final six holes 5-over.

Christopher Tam, a sophomore from Design Tech, was the final San Mateo County golfer to make the final. His 8-over 79 was good 53rd place and was one of four golfers to post that score.

The CCS title went to Stevenson freshman Dylan Hirst, who birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to to post a 6-under 65. He leapfrogged his teammate, beating Stevenson senior Calvin Etchverry by a stroke.

Stevenson was the runaway team champ, as well, as the Pirates posted a five-golfer score of 4-under 351. St. Ignatius finished second, with a 6-over 361, a stroke ahead of third-place Gunn. All three qualify for the Northern California regional tournament May 26 at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore. The State Championship is June 3 at San Gabriel Country Club in Los Angeles County.