PREP GOLF PREVIEW: Harbour Pointe home to some of state’s best

Published 11:26 pm Friday, March 26, 2010

Of all the public golf courses in Snohomish County many golfers think one stands out as the toughest, most challenging 18 holes in the region — Harbour Pointe Golf Club.

It is no coincidence that the high school golf teams to beat in 2010 make their home at Harbour Pointe. On both the boys and the girls side, some of the best players in the Western Conference go to school just five minutes away at Kamiak High school.

There’s Yale-bound Seo Hee Moon, who has finished first, second and second at the 4A state tournament in her first three years in high school. Her teammate Rachel Choi would be the No. 1 golfer at just about every school in the state, but instead gives the Knights girls team a fearsome 1-2 punch. Choi will play for Idaho — one of 18 schools in the country to offer Professional Golf Management as a major.

Reid Martin — the 2009 individual state champion, currently playing at the University of Central Florida — is gone for the boys but ready to step into his shoes is Mark Strickland, who has an offer to play at Western Washington next year for one of the top Division II programs in the country.

All of them have the privilege of teeing it up at the 19-year old Mukilteo course that was rated Golf Digest’s best new public course when it opened.

The benefit to the Knights is not solely that Harbour Pointe is among the nicest courses in the region. It is also the track’s challenge. Harbour Pointe demands its challengers be masters of target golf.

“Kids who grew up playing there know it’s a demanding golf course,” Kamiak boys coach Jeff Tobin said. “You have to learn what course management is … the golf course tests you.”

Oki Golf, which owns the course along with eight others in the western half of the state, opens its range and practice facilities to the Knights. Several other Wesco schools don’t get daily access to a driving range. Tobin and girls coach Bud Davis as well as the players are grateful for the access.

“It’s a tremendous advantage,” Tobin said.

“It’s a huge advantage,” Davis said. “This course is longer and narrower than most courses. When other teams come here they get blown out of the water.”

By comparison Harbor Pointe is a par-72, 6,138-yard course from the white tees (although most matches are just nine holes), while Nile Golf Club (home of Edmonds Woodway) is a par 66 that plays less than 5,000 yards with no par 5s. At Nile a missed fairway is easier to recover from. Harbor Pointe is not forgiving.

“It definitely helps our team,” Strickland said about the Knights’ home. “I think it is the toughest course that Wesco plays on.”

Harbour Pointe will be the site of the boys divisional tournament this year even though it was Edmonds-Woodway’s turn to host. Twelfth-year Warriors coach Tom Davis said that E-W gave up hosting duties because Harbour Pointe will be better preparation for the state tournament that will be held at Canyon Lakes in Kennewick — a par 72 that plays even longer than Kamiak’s home.

Although the home course does give the Knights an edge, no one in Wesco is ready to concede the league championship. There are plenty of good golfers that don’t wear purple and white.

“The course can be an advantage but we don’t look at it that much,” Davis said.

Davis’s team is lead by senior captains Chong Byun and Davis Halle, who will be headed to Division II Northwest Nazarene to play golf.

Shorewood finished second to the Knights a year ago and its top two are as strong as any team in the league.

Senior Max McKinley is expected to challenge Strickland for the title of Wesco’s No. 1 golfer. Both have their eyes on the invitationals at Skagit Golf and Country Club (Egbers) and Everett Golf and Country (Dolan) club later this season. McKinley will attend the University of Arizona where he will walk on to play for one of the best programs in the Pac-10, shunning scholarship offers from a few small schools.

Thunderbird No. 2 Chris Babcock is a member at Harbour Pointe where he has gotten to know the course nearly as well as the Kamiak boys.

Add to that the fact that for the first time Shorewood (boys and girls) will practice one day a week at the private Mill Creek Country Club, where the facilities can compete with Harbour Pointe and the Thunderbirds have a good chance to make some noise.

“It’s going to be a tough race,” Shorewood coach Bill Sugden said. “Our 1-2 are about as strong as anybody. I’m going to need some guys to step up in the fifth and sixth spots.”

The third team with a chance in the south would be Jackson, which returns junior Connor Miele, a two-time state qualifier.

In the Wesco North, Snohomish — the defending 4A boys team champion — was hit hard by graduation, losing six seniors. Junior Tyler Hella will lead the Panthers in the defense of their title.

Junior Judd Ford was twice named second team All-Wesco and gives Oak Harbor a chance to be the best team in Wesco North.

On the girls side, the strength lies primarily in the South as well. Though the Knights are strong they will have plenty of challengers.

Cassie McKinley (Max’s sister) has made the leap between her freshman and sophomore campaigns and could be poised to challenge the Kamiak duo of Moon and Choi. McKinley, an 11 handicap, recently broke through and recorded a 1-under 35 — her first sub-par round in competition — in the Thunderbirds’ season-opening jamboree. Her brother has taken her under his wing and Max’s daily guidance during practice is likely bad news for the rest of the Wesco girls.

Edmonds-Woodway’s Anne Yoon and Kimberly Santiago lead the defending 4A academic state champion Warriors, who boasted a team GPA of 3.85 a year ago.