Golf Events Conflict, Thinning Section Field

A scheduling conflict with Monday’s Southern Section Individual girls’ golf championships forced many of the section’s top players to skip the premier tournament of high-school season.

The tournament was scheduled in the same week as one of the American Junior Golf Assn’s. most prestigious events, a season-ending tournament at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida.

“This is a real problem,” Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley said. “This is something we need to sit down and take a closer look at with our golf advisory committee.”

Southern Section defending champion Gina Umeck of Redlands East Valley and CIF-SCGA defending champion Candie Kung of Fountain Valley skipped Monday’s tournament to play in Florida.

Also joining Kung and Umeck in Florida are Sonora’s Angela Rho, Upland’s Kim Kouwabunpat (Southern Section runner-up ‘97) and Los Angeles Brentwood’s Hana Kim (CIF-SCGA runner-up ‘98) along with five other Southern Section-area players.

Since the Southern Section finals is the only qualifying tournament for the CIF-SCGA finals in June, Kung won’t be eligible to defend her title.

Crowley hopes the girls’ golf season, which crowned its first team champions last week, can avoid future scheduling overlaps.

“Obviously there’s a conflict,” Crowley said. “But we’re locked into certain dates, to a degree, so that we can finish our season. But we need to look at this.”