Jason Semelsberger

Jason Semelsberger has played countless rounds of golf in the past 12 years, but on June 2 he played two rounds in one day that changed his life. On that sweltering spring afternoon at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Semelsberger's final putt fell and clinched a spot for the 18-year-old Newhall native in the U.S. Open--arguably the world's most prestigious and difficult golf tournament. He scrambled to rearrange his final exams at UCLA, where he is nearing the end of his freshman year.

Jason Semelsberger prepared to hit a sand wedge to the eighth green in the U.S. Open Thursday when it finally hit him. He was not in Newhall anymore. He was not playing for UCLA. This was not a California Junior Amateur. Semelsberger, an 18-year-old Bruin sophomore-to-be whose first pro tournament is this one, turned to his equally amateur caddie for the club. The caddie's face went blank. In the heat of the moment, his uncle, Don Semelsberger, had left the club back on the seventh green.

Jason Semelsberger prepared to hit a sand wedge to the eighth green in the U.S. Open Thursday when it finally hit him. He was not in Newhall anymore. He was not playing for UCLA. This was not a California Junior Amateur. Semelsberger, an 18-year-old Bruin sophomore-to-be whose first pro tournament is this one, turned to his equally amateur caddie for the club. The caddie's face went blank. In the heat of the moment, his uncle, Don Semelsberger, had left the club back on the seventh green.

Jason Semelsberger has played countless rounds of golf in the past 12 years, but on June 2 he played two rounds in one day that changed his life. On that sweltering spring afternoon at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Semelsberger's final putt fell and clinched a spot for the 18-year-old Newhall native in the U.S. Open--arguably the world's most prestigious and difficult golf tournament. He scrambled to rearrange his final exams at UCLA, where he is nearing the end of his freshman year.

Their imaginations ran wild, as happens with 12-year-olds, as they strolled along the fairways at North Ranch Country Club in 1990. They talked about their golf futures--playing together in college, turning pro someday. Sure, it seemed like a mere boyhood fantasy at the time--the figment of two young imaginations. But Ross Fulgentis, now a Westlake High senior, and Hart senior Jason Semelsberger--two of the top high school golfers in the region--were on to something.

Darren Angel of Northridge won the boys' 15-18 division in the Las Vegas Founders' Legacy Junior Championship by shooting a two-under-par 70 in the final round Thursday at the Legacy Golf Club in Henderson, Nev. Angel, two-time City golf champion from Granada Hills High, finished with a five-under 211, two shots ahead of Michael Boyd of Tulsa, Okla., who shot 67 to vault into second place. Joel Kribel of Pleasanton, Calif.

A busy week of high school golf begins Monday with the Southern Section individual tournament at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara and includes the City Section team and individual championships Monday and Tuesday at Rancho Park golf course in West L.A. Hart and Westlake will each have four representatives in the 140-player field at Sandpiper. Ross Fulgentis of Westlake, Jason Semelsberger of Hart and Flintridge Prep sophomore Russell Surber enter as the area's best shots at a section title.

Jason Semelsberger of Newhall won the 36th California State Junior Amateur golf championship Wednesday and became the third player in tournament history to repeat as champion. Semelsberger fired an even-par 72 in the final round at San Joaquin Country Club and finished with a three-round total of 216, two strokes better than Robert Sul of Torrance and James Oh of Lakewood. Tennis Eighth-seeded Brandis Braverman reached the round of 16 in the United States Tennis Assn.'

Jason Gore and Mike Miller of Valencia, Chad Wright of Ventura and Mitch Voges of Simi Valley qualified Tuesday for match play in the U.S. Amateur Golf Championships at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill. Miller and Wright led region qualifiers with two-round totals of two-under-par 142, six strokes behind medalist Roger Tambellini of Tempelton--a USC teammate of Wright's last year. Gore, a member of the victorious 1997 U.S. Walker Cup team and NCAA champion Pepperdine, shot 144.

Their imaginations ran wild, as happens with 12-year-olds, as they strolled along the fairways at North Ranch Country Club in 1990. They talked about their golf futures--playing together in college, turning pro someday. Sure, it seemed like a mere boyhood fantasy at the time--the figment of two young imaginations. But Ross Fulgentis, now a Westlake High senior, and Hart senior Jason Semelsberger--two of the top high school golfers in the region--were on to something.

After making up four shots during the final round to force the tournament into a playoff, Elise Kimm of North Hollywood lost in a sudden-death playoff to Skyli Yamada of Sandy, Utah, Friday in the girls' division of the Las Vegas Founders' Legacy Junior golf tournament in Henderson, Nev. Kimm fired a final-round one-over-par 73; Yamada had a five-over 77. Both players completed regulation with a nine-over 225.

Rick Nadeau, a power-hitting outfielder at College of the Canyons, has committed to Cal State Northridge. First baseman George Tavaglione of Riverside Arlington High and pitcher-third baseman Rick Chessman of Servite High have committed to Pepperdine. Jim DeBiase, a right-handed pitcher at Pierce, has committed to University of the Pacific. Mike Amundson, a pitcher at Newbury Park High, will sign with University of San Diego.