Last year as a freshman, Ben Doyle (pictured) earned his place on a prestigious list that includes former Southland junior stars Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler when he won the CIF/SCGA Southern Regional Championship at Brookside GC. This year, he has once again qualified for the event, and will tee off with 123 other high school standouts Thursday at Brookside.
The Southern Regional is a one-day event, with teams and individual students competing in 18 holes of stroke play. At the conclusion of the round, the top nine individuals and top three teams advance to the state championship, which is conducted in Southern California every other year. This year, it will be held at San Gabriel CC June 6.
Some of the brightest young Southern California high school stars will tee up with Doyle Thursday, including Beau Hossler, who was named earlier this year by ESPN as one of their 18 under 18 stars. Last year, Hossler was the youngest participant in the U.S. Open, and this year has already advanced to sectional qualifying play on June 4.
Two more to watch for on Thursday are Ryan Burgess of Torrey Pines High School and Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis East. Burgess was recently named the Golfweek Player of the Week after securing his first AJGA victory at the Under Armour/Hunter Mahan Championship. DeChambeau, who will be collegiate golf at Southern Methodist, emerged from a five-way playoff during U.S. Open local qualifying to advance to sectionals June 4.
Also participating for the second-straight year is Venice High's Clayon Yamaguchi, who was recently featured in an issue of FORE Magazine for his work with the SCGA Foundation. Yamaguchi had success at the event last year, when he advanced to the State Championship, and hopes to do so again in what will be his last attempt.
"It would mean everything for me to advance to the state championship at San Gabriel CC," Yamaguchi said. "I qualified for the state championship last year at Poppy Hills during my junior year, and it would be awesome to make it again in my senior year. If I don't advance, this will be my last high school event so I want to put everything on the line."
Pairings for Thursday's round at Brookside can be found here.
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