OLDER AND WISER SUCCESS IS NOTHING NEW FOR MARMONTE LEAGUE CHAMPION HOFFENBERG.Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer Danny Hoffenberg was a star on the rise even before he arrived 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. , where he has been a varsity starter in each of his first three seasons and was team captain by the time he was a sophomore. But Hoffenberg, who routinely challenged par at difficult Wood Ranch as a 12-year-old, took his game to another level Wednesday, when he won the 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. individual championship. That's no small accomplishment, considering the league has been one of the strongest in the Southern Section for decades and his competition included a two-time defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre who has five rounds in the 60s this season and a final-round leader whose two-stroke advantage going into Wednesday's play was achieved with a hole-in-one. But Hoffenberg also has game, underscored dramatically with a final- round 67 at 6,066-yard, par-70 Sunset Hills Country Club and earlier with a second-round 69 at par-70 Los Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
Those two rounds, combined with a first-round 75 at par-72 Tierra Rejada and a third-round 74 at par-71 Simi Hills The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range in Southern California. Geography Simi Hills is located on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, United States. They run east-west and they extend 26 miles east-west, and 7 miles north-south. , gave Hoffenberg a four-round total of 1-over-par 285 and a four-shot margin over runner-up and third-round leader Matt Jaffe of Agoura. ``Everything worked out pretty good,'' Hoffenberg said. ``I was confident in my putting because I'd worked on my stroke a lot a couple of days before. I didn't really have any problems on any holes. A six-birdie round left the Royal junior feeling that way even though he had two bogeys. Hoffenberg, averaging just over 73.5 for the season, went into the league tournament wanting primarily to advance to the Southern Section individual playoffs, which start May 17 at Village Country Club in Lompoc and conclude May 24 at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs. But he doesn't mind moving on as league champion after ending a two-year title run by Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. senior Kyle <noinclude></noinclude> ''This article or section is being rewritten at One derivation of the surname is from the Scottish Highland word caol, 'channel', or 'strait'. There are other possible derivations (see below). Thurston, who was attempting to become the first Marmonte player ever to win three consecutive titles and looked capable of that throughout a season in which he had rounds of 67, 67, 68, 68 and 69. However, Hoffenberg, Jaffe and nearly a dozen others wound up also ready to challenge for the title, and six of them - Aaron Conrad of T.O., Westlake's Chase Wirtz, Agoura's Jeremy Bovill and Matt Halfon along with Hoffenberg and Jaffe - will be moving on to postseason play. Winning isn't new to Hoffenberg, who has done a lot of that in a brilliant junior career, during which he was Ventura Country Junior Golf Player of the Year and last summer won on the difficult American Junior Golf Association The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a "501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. tour, the major league of U.S. junior golf. At Royal, he started winning more as he started to grow and became more comfortable. ``I just started to relax a little more, tried to think about one shot at a time and not worry about the future as much,'' said Hoffenberg, who entered high school at 5-foot-1 and weighing barely 100 pounds. Then came the growth spurt growth spurt Pediatrics A period of rapid growth in middle adolescence; ♀ ↑ ±8 cm/yr ±age 12; ♂ ↑ ±10 cm/yr ± age 14; GS is orderly, affecting acral parts–ie, hands and feet grow before proximal regions, and the subsequent dramatic difference in how far he can hit the ball off the tee. ``I'm a lot longer now,'' said Hoffenberg, who has grown to 5-7, 135 pounds. ``My freshman year I had to rely a lot on my putting. Now, I'm 40 yards longer (averaging 260 with his drives). It's been a combination. I'm a little bit stronger and more efficient.'' That and regular lessons with instructor and former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX coach Brad Sherfy have helped Hoffenberg lower his handicap to zero at Wood Ranch, a course strong enough to have hosted LPGA LPGA abbr. Ladies Professional Golf Association and Champions Tour events. Hoffenberg has a best of 68 from the blue tees at Wood Ranch and shot 2-under-par 70 from the 6,972-yard tips on that course. ``He is a solid golfer,'' said Westlake coach Dave Costley. ``He was solid last year and he's grown a little bit. He's starting to fill in. And in the final, he really stepped up.'' Dave Shelburne, (818) 713-3609 dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Royal junior Danny Hoffenberg ended the two-year reign of Thousand Oaks' Kyle Thurston as the Marmonte golf champion. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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