ADMIRATION FOR 60S GENERATION.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

Colin Wilcox pushed the envelope hard two years ago as a Camarillo High School sophomore, shooting 10-under-par 61 to set the Spanish Hills Country Club course record.

Brandon Christianson of Valencia was pushing even harder last year as a junior, backing up to a 62 when his bid for a closing eagle and round of 59 resulted in a final-hole bogey and a share of the course record at Soule Park Golf Course.

But even by the hoist-the-bar, fire-at-every-flag, protect-nothing standards of this remarkable generation of high school golfers, the number of exceptional area scores being posted this year is off the charts.

Through Tuesday, 13 players, representing nine area high schools, had combined to shoot 24 rounds in the 60s on courses of par-70 or higher. And that's not including Christianson, Highland of Palmdale's Erik Jarvey or state junior champion Ben Fox of Oakwood of North Hollywood - who all have high school eligibility left after joining the 60s generation last year.

``It's amazing, and it's a good thing for golf,'' said Roger Gunn, the Tierra Rejada GC instructor and 2001 Southern California PGA teacher of the year who has worked with several PGA Tour players and remembers what it was like back in the day. ``I know Paul Azinger didn't shoot in the 60s until he was in college.''

The 2004 list - and it seems destined to grow longer with most league championships starting next week and nearly a month of postseason competition following that - is topped in quantity by Thousand Oaks' Kyle Thurston and in quality by Westlake's Bret Perry, who both play in the golf-rich Marmonte League.

Thurston, bidding to become the first player to win three consecutive titles in a league that produced eventual U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin, already has five rounds in the 60s this season - two of 67.

Perry, a bespectacled, studious sort who is bound for the Ivy League and doesn't know if he'll have enough time to play golf at Cornell, posted a season-best 64 last week and had a 66 earlier this month.

Pepperdine-bound Wilcox, who proceeded UCLA-bound Christianson as Daily News Player of the Year, has hardly slowed down. Wilcox has three rounds in the 60s this year and in October tied his Spanish Hills course record with another 61.

Aaron Conrad, Thurston's 6-foot-4 teammate at Thousand Oaks, has rounds of 66, 67 and 69 this season. Joe Greiner of 32-0-1 Hart has bests of 67 and 68 and is one of three golfers to shoot in the 60s - with David Cape and Matt Ryan - on arguably the strongest Hart team ever and maybe the area's strongest ever.

Sophomore Austin Alfonso (68 and 69) is one of two Agoura golfers to shoot in the 60s, with teammate Mike Neustadt. Eugene Park of Highland, Trevor James of Oak Park, James Dalthorp III of Oaks Christian of Westlake Village and Danny Hoffenberg of Royal of Simi Valley also are on the list - Hoffenberg curling in his final putt from 15 feet for a 69 in last week's Marmonte League tournament, where he is one of the challengers for Thurston's title.

The 60s list might be longer if so many area high schools didn't play nine-hole matches. Edgar Reyes of Alemany of Mission Hills and Kyle Borggrebe of Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks - both Mission League champions as freshmen - have both been well under par for nine holes this year. Prep League standouts Nick Geyer of Viewpoint and Brett Kanda of Flintridge Prep of La Canada also fall in this category. Geyer was even par for the season last year in winning the league title as a sophomore. Kanda, a 2002 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier, is routinely under par in his nine-hole matches.

But there's something about a round in the 60s.

``It's a magical number,'' said Granada Hills coach Joe White, dean of the area's City Section golf coaches and a man who has produced nine City titles with the Highlanders. He credits the surge of 60s to better training, better equipment and better athletes. ``We're getting golfers who can run faster, jump higher and are a lot stronger,'' White said.

Conrad, who gave up basketball as a freshman to concentrate on golf, gives some credit to the influence of Tiger Woods: ``He was the new guy and everyone wanted to be like him - I know I did.''

Teammate Thurston was inspired by Jack Nicklaus, but with the same result - a mind-set that has produced a lot of low rounds for a Thousand Oaks team that is one of the best in that school's proud golf history.

``If you want to win,'' Thurston said, ``getting under par is pretty much the number. Every round, I think I have to get under par.''

It's a kind of thinking, accompanied by a lot of hard work, that has produced two dozen rounds in the 60s already with more likely to come in what is shaping up as one of the best years ever for area high school golf.

``It is pretty impressive,'' Perry said. ``It's the most I can remember. ``There's a lot of hard work and I think it's just the kids my age playing now are the kids I grew up with playing and we've all just matured to the point where we have a lot of confidence. And when we see someone else do something, we think we can do that too.''

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Photo:

VIJAY SINGH

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ON THE GREEN