Winfield sweeps golf awards

Senior Sebbi Winfield received both the Most Valuable Player award and an award called the "The Bear" at the postseason banquet for the Fallbrook High boys golf team, May 22. Assistant coach Ken Adams hosted the event at his home.

The winner of the annual team match play competition receives "The Bear," which is named after 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate Colin Featherstone. Winfield became the second Fallbrook player to win "The Bear" two years in a row, joining 2012 and 2013 recipient Braeden Koran.

"That was kind of cool for him," head coach Steve Jorde said of Winfield, who also received the team Most Valuable Player award in 2017.

Fallbrook had a 12-6 record in 2018 dual meets, including a 7-1 mark in Valley League competition which gave the Warriors the league championship.

"They vastly improved," Jorde said. "That was awesome."

The Warriors also won the team portion of the North County Conference tournament, May 1-2, in San Marcos, and Winfield was the Valley League's individual champion. Winfield was also named the league's "Player of the Year."

The Warriors as a team qualified for the CIF tournament, May 14 and May 16, at the Admiral Baker course in San Diego. Although Fallbrook's team score wasn't low enough to advance to the second day of the tournament as a team, the 28 individuals not affiliated with a qualifying team who had the best scores advanced to the second day of play. Winfield's 71-stroke round placed fourth among golfers who did not advance as part of a team and shared 11th place among all golfers on the first day.

Twelve individual qualifiers advanced to the CIF Southern Regional tournament at the Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena. Winfield's second-day score of 74 gave him a 36-hole total of 145, which placed him 10th among individuals.

The top three teams at the regional tournament and the top six individuals not participating with a team advanced to the state tournament, May 30, at the San Gabriel Country Club in San Gabriel. The golfers who had a 73-stroke round at the regional tournament participated in the playoff to advance to the state match. Winfield had a score of 74 on the Brookside course, and thus missed the state tournament by one stroke.

"(Winfield) is going to be very hard to replace, but it's nice to have the bulk of the team back," Jorde said.

Winfield, who will golf collegiately at San Jose State University, was one of two seniors on the team. Daniel Milton was the other senior. Keller Hagen was the only junior on the varsity, and the other six varsity players were freshmen.

Although both awards were given to Winfield, the banquet acknowledged the achievements of all of the Warriors' golfers.

"We just recognized all the kids," Jorde said.

The banquet also allowed for an appreciation of the Pala Mesa course the Warriors use for their home matches and practices.

"Pala Mesa is great," Jorde said. "They go out of their way to help the golfers."