OCC's Kim, Thurmond qualify for State Golf Finals
CHINO HILLS -- The Orange Coast College men's golf team narrowly missed its opportunity for the entire group to compete for a state title, but a pair of Pirate standouts -- Myoung Kim and Tyler Thurmond -- will represent Coast as they shoot for an individual title.
On Monday, the Pirates competed in the 2019 Southern California Regional Finals, a 36-hole tournament where the top four teams qualify for next week's CCCAA Men's Golf State Championships. Unfortunately for Coast, the team finished fifth with a team score of 741 (372-369), just one shot behind fourth-place Cypress, who carded a team score of 740 (360-380). College of the Canyons (360-366-726), Mt. San Antonio (347-385-732) and Santa Barbara City (379-360-739) earned the other three slots for the State Finals.
But on the individual side of things, the top six golfers not on a state finals team also qualify for state and that's where Kim and Thurmond come in. Kim opened things strong in the morning round on the par-72 South Course as he carded an even-par 72 for the lowest score on the Pirates. Thurmond was just one shot off of Kim's score, shooting a 1-over 73. Other OCC scores in the morning round were turned in by Bryce Sheridan (75), Mike Stephens (76), Connor O'Hern (76) and Keith Devin (81).
After the morning round, Coast was sitting in sixth place and needed to shoot low in the afternoon round on the par-74 North Course. Kim and Thurmond were red-hot in the afternoon, each shooting a 4-under 70 to help keep the Pirates in the thick of it. Sheridan was close behind the OCC duo with a 1-over 75, followed by O'Hern (77), Stephens (77) and Devin (78). OCC's 369 in the afternoon was the third-lowest among all nine Regional qualifying teams, but Cypress did just enough to keep ahead of Coast and prevented them from a return trip to the State Finals.
Kim finished second among all golfers with this 2-under-par 142 (72-70), while Thurmond was third with a 1-under 143 (73-70). Only Palomar's Jacob Montes (68-71-139) topped the OCC pair. Montes, Kim and Thurmond will be joined individually by Palomar's Kyle Hazlett (146) Ventura's Michael Ray (149) and Ventura's Nick Burns (150) at the State Championships, which will take place on Monday at Napa's Silverado Resort & Spa, beginning at 8 a.m.
