Palm Desert holds edge over other desert teams as CIF-SS boys' golf playoff begins
The CIF-Southern Section’s team competition for boys' golf begins Monday at seven different sites, but the truth is only one of those sites truly matters.
That site, the 20-team Division 1 regional at Cross Creek Golf Club in Temecula, is packed with top high school teams from throughout the Southern Section. One of those teams is Palm Desert High School, giving the Aztecs a 50 percent chance of advancing to the next stage of postseason team play.
Other desert schools are playing in other divisions Monday, but the CIF-SS format gives those teams little chance of advancing to the CIF’s SCGA qualifying tournament Thursday.
Under CIF-SS rules, 14 teams will advance to the SCGA qualifying tournament from the 135 teams in the regionals. But the top 10 teams from Division 1 are guaranteed a spot in the SCGA qualifier, meaning only four other teams will advance. In addition, a win in a lower division doesn’t guarantee a team will advance.
More: State title or bust? Palm Desert golf has high hopes for CIF postseason
“All 14 teams could hypothetically advance from Division 1,” the CIF-SS says in its golf playoff bulletin.
Xavier Prep, which shared the Desert Empire League title with Palm Desert, is in Division 3 at Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo, a placement set at the beginning of the year based on play in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Yucca Valley, champions of the Desert Valley League, will play in Division 5 at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills, while Coachella Valley will be in Division 7 at El Prado Golf Club in Chino Hills.
Curt Breitfuss, head coach of Palm Desert, knows his team has a good chance of advancing out of Division 1 Monday. But to continue on the road to a potential state championship, Breitfuss said his team needs to play well.
“If you look at our scores and then you look at the scores of the other teams that we know will be there, the De La Salles and the Torrey Pines, schools like that, we’ll need to play better,” Breitfuss said.
The Palm Desert team will include freshmen Luke Ringkamp and Cash Tompoles, sophomores Max Margolis, Landon Breisch and Caden Breisch and junior Ivan Tran,
Palm Desert won the Division 1 title last year, but was disqualified the next day because of impermissible team activities the day before the event.
The SCGA team qualifier will be played Thursday at River Ridge Golf Club in Oxnard, along with the CIF-SS individual championship. The top four teams Thursday will move on to the CIF/SCGA championship May 24 at Los Serranos Golf Club in Chino Hills. That tournament will include teams from the Southern, Central, Los Angeles and San Diego sections of the CIF.
Only the top three teams from the CIF/SCGA event will move on to the CIF state tournament against the top three teams from Northern California. That event will be played May 31 at Poppy Hills Golf Club in Pebble Beach.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Desert holds edge over other desert teams as CIF-SS boys' golf playoff begins
