The Sharks won five of their six league competitions this season
The Malibu High Sharks boys golf team will tee off in the postseason this month as league champions.
The Sharks cemented their status as Citrus Coast League titlists on April 25 with a victory on the Victoria Lakes Course at the River Ridge Golf Club in Oxnard.
Malibu won the league — which also includes Fillmore, Nordhoff, Santa Paula, Hueneme, and Channel Islands — in dominating fashion, Sharks head coach Anna Deshautelle stated.
“Its been a very long time since we won league,” she said. “This is a great group.”
Next up for Malibu is taking swings in the CIF playoffs.
Seniors Graydon Phelps and Shelby Woodman will compete in the CIF-Southern Section Individual Championships at Los Robles Greens in Thousand Oaks on May 8. The whole team will participate in the CIF-Southern Section Team Divisional Championships in Chino on May 13.
Phelps, the team captain, and junior Hank Norby led Malibu to the league title. They both shot 39 at Victoria Lakes Course, while junior Roman Parra shot 43. Senior Austen Gasser finished with a score of 45, and Woodman had 47.
Phelps, Woodman, Flanigan, Norby, and Gasser, a first-year member of the team, were named to the Citrus Coast League first team.
Deshautelle said Phelps, a lefty with a smooth swing, led Malibu this season.
“Graydon has always been a very good golfer and a very serious golfer,” she said. “Graydon is an exceptional athlete. He is able to stay focused and not get down if he does make a mistake. He puts that behind him and is always focused on the next hole.”
Phelps bounced back from a horrible hole that he double-bogeyed on in a recent match. He drove the ball onto the green a couple of feet from the hole and then put in a birdie.
The Sharks won five of their six league competitions this season.
Deshautelle said Malibu entered the final match with the league title in hand.
“Even though we knew we were going to win, it was still nice to win by a lot of strokes,” she said. “It felt good to finish the season with a solid, emphatic victory.”
To be successful in the postseason, the Sharks coach said the team will need to excel in their putting and short game and focus.
“Don’t get intimidated by the competition,” Deshautelle stated. “They need to play the course intelligently.”