Boys golf: Showdown to showcase MCAL talent
The MCAL Tournament will decide the champions, sure, but Monday’s showdown on the links could be an exciting preview of what is to come in the boys golf postseason.
Redwood and Branson will meet at the Meadow Club on Monday for the second time this season, with the Giants looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Bulls.
“Branson is very solid,” Redwood coach Joe Root said, while looking at the competition. “Tam has also been really good and Marin Catholic is really good. There are a lot of good individuals on every team. That’s been good for the league because everybody has to play their best golfers.”
It’s hard to find an upside to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Root might have found it.
“There’s an added interest in golf because of the pandemic because that’s one thing that people could do,” said Root, whose Redwood team, like others in the county, saw more players report for tryouts at the start of the year.
He said. “Most teams had way more people trying out than they could accommodate. It’s a good sign for the kids that they want to compete.”
The Giants’ top three players, junior Arjun Aujla and freshmen Jack Mount and Brody Root, consistently shoot 42 or below.
Aujla, who often plays in amateur tournaments, “is very consistent” and “an all-around solid player,” according to his coach. “He’s on a good path for improvement in the long run. He’s got the game to play further.”
Meanwhile, “Jack and Brody are both solid players with handicaps probably around 2. They’ve both been playing quite a few years in junior tournaments. They’re both very competitive and usually score within a stroke of each other. They have a lot of potential.”
Brody Root, as the coach’s son, has been exposed to a variety of courses in California and Hawaii.
“What I like about his attitude is Brody likes to play any kind of golf course at any time,” Joe Root said.
Rounding out the Giants’ top five for most of the season have been seniors James Givas and Damian Wabl. Givas doesn’t have a long history playing golf. He took up the sport just two years ago when the COVID pandemic shut down the baseball season, and the 2021 season was his first on the Redwood golf team. So, he traded his bat for a club; changed his swing; and focused on hitting a different kind of ball.
“I found that I really enjoyed playing golf a lot more than baseball,” Givas said. “I decided that was where I wanted to concentrate my time. From what I saw from tryouts that year, I was not the only one moving toward golf.”
Givas still enjoys baseball, but “it’s a little different than golf. Baseball is definitely more fast moving and there’s a lot more going on. You can rely on your teammates to back you up. With golf, there’s more satisfaction in putting a string of good shots together. You have to demand a lot from yourself to perform at the top tier.”
While Givas says Branson could be the best team in the county right now, Joe Root has a word of caution for the rest of the competition.
“The high point is still to come for Redwood golf,” Root said. “It’s been a gradual building process through the season. The quality of play has been improving steadily through the season, and we’re still getting better.”