IN THE SWING AGAIN: HOFFENBERG BACK ON COURSE ROYAL GOLFER BETTER THAN EVER AFTER TIME AWAY FROM GAME.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer To those who know Matt Hoffenberg best, it wasn't surprising. As soon as he was tall enough to hold a golf club, Hoffenberg, a junior at Royal High of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , just seemed to know what to do with it. The game came easy to him. He won almost every junior tournament he entered. By the time he was 13, he already had made a name for himself nationally with an 8-under 62 at a Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, PGA (1) (Professional Graphics Adapter) An early IBM PC display standard for 3D processing with 640x480x256 resolution. It was not widely used. (2) (Programmable Gate Array) See gate array and FPGA. Junior Tour event at Alhambra Golf Course. Then one day, he wanted no part of the game. The reason wasn't easy to pinpoint. It wasn't exactly burnout Burnout Depletion of a tax shelter's benefits. In the context of mortgage backed securities it refers to the percentage of the pool that has prepaid their mortgage. or boredom Boredom See also Futility. Aldegonde, Lord St. bored nobleman, empty of pursuits. [Br. Lit.: Lothair] Baudelaire, Charles (1821–1867) French poet whose dissipated lifestyle led to inner despair. [Fr. Lit. . Some of each, maybe. But mostly, Hoffenberg just needed some time to figure out who he was without a golf club in his hand. He needed to be 14. He needed to play football and hang out with his friends. He needed time to just be. ``I could kind of see it coming,'' said his older brother Danny, who is a freshman on the Fresno State golf team. ``I wasn't really that surprised he needed a break. The only thing that surprised me was how long a break he took.'' For nearly two years, one of the area's best young golfers didn't even pick up a club. He was away so long, some worried he wouldn't return. And then, almost as quickly as he disappeared, Hoffenberg came back. In late January, he went back out to play a few holes at the course he'd grown up on, Wood Ranch Golf Course in Simi Valley. It was a little rough at first, but not as bad as he had expected. The club felt right in his hands again. He had been away long enough. ``I think it was good for me,'' Hoffenberg said. ``It's not that I had a problem with being, `Matt the golfer.' I just wanted to try something new for a while. I wanted to get away from it for a while. ``I have more drive to play now, more hunger.'' It hasn't taken Hoffenberg long to get his game back into shape. He quickly became Royal's No. 1 golfer upon his return and was a key part of the Highlanders' Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school sports league primarily made up of schools from Ventura County. The Marmonte Leauge is part of the CIF Southern Section. Click here to view the league schedule. title. In five postseason rounds, he's 7 under. He's one of 17 area golfers (fourSouthern Section, 13 City Section) scheduled to compete at the CIF/SCGA championship and state qualifying tournament today at the SCGA SCGA Southern California Golf Association SCGA Software Carrier Group Alarm Members Course in Murrieta. City Section champion Kennedy of Granada Hills will participate in the team competition. Hoffenberg, along with Saugus' Nick Delio and Oaks Christian of Westlake Village's Michael Casca and Josh Ziska, are the area's best hope of earning one of the six individual qualifying spots for the state championships June 6 in Santa Maria Santa Maria, city, Brazil Santa Maria (sän`tə mərē`ə), city (1991 pop. 217,592), Rio Grande do Sul state, S Brazil. It is a major railroad terminus and the site of an important military base. . Flintridge Prep's Brett Kanda won the individual title last year with a 6-under 66. Hoffenberg hasn't quite matched the 62 he shot as a 13-year-old, but he came pretty close with a 6-under 66 to win the Southern Section Central Coast Divisional championship at Village Country Club in Lompoc on May 8. Despite his long layoff Layoff 1. When a company eliminates jobs regardless of how good the employees' performance. 2. A risk reduction, made by investment bankers, that minimizes the potential downside associated with a commitment to purchase and sell a stock issue unsubscribed by stockholders holding , he still is a major-college prospect. ``I feel like I'm pretty much back to where I was,'' he said. ``I'm definitely a better player now. I'm more consistent. My mental game is better. ``Sometimes, I kind of regret stopping for a couple years, because I could've worked on my game and gotten better. But I know I would've needed to take a break at some point, and it's better I did it then as opposed to later. It benefited me a lot, I think.'' ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Royal High golfer Matt Hoffenberg quit the sport for nearly two years, but has been one of the area's best since his return. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News Box: CIF/SCGA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP |
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