SANTA CLARITA HAS TOP GOLF.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

What are the chances? Two of the state's best college golf teams for their respective divisions are within 5 miles of each other in the Santa Clarita Valley, where The Master's College and College of the Canyons again are on track for season-ending championships.

At Newhall-based The Master's, a fourth-year NAIA program coached by former Point Loma Nazarene standout Jim Lundstrum, the quest is for a second national title in six months. At Canyons, in Valencia, 18-year veteran Gary Peterson has his team in position to make a run at a third state community college championship in four years.

The Master's won the National Christian College Athletic Association championship in November and is No. 6 in the NAIA national rankings this spring, which has seen the Mustangs finish third or better in three of their five tournaments, including a victory in the Otter Invitational at Seaside's difficult Bayonet course.

Former Westlake High and Moorpark College golfer Chad Wensel has been the most productive Mustang this spring, winning back-to-back individual titles in the Otter Invitational and Point Loma Invitational.

Senior Joe Chally, junior Ryan Higton and freshmen Andrew Lawson and Seth Cotter have been other key performers for The Master's, which plays in the NAIA Division II Regionals on Monday and Tuesday at Stevenson Ranch near Fresno.

``It's been pretty much a team effort,'' said Lundstrum, a four-time MVP at Point Loma, where he holds the school record for scoring average and is a member of the Crusaders' Hall of Fame. ``The difference for us has been the depth. Most teams have a solid (No.) 1-2 or maybe 3 and the 4-5 players make the difference. For us, it's been different guys each tournament stepping up and shooting good scores.''

The Canyons men's program, which has produced five consecutive Western State Conference championships and 10 overall under the direction of Peterson, has won state titles in 1993, 2000 and 2002, when the Cougars went 82-2 in the regular season.

It's been tougher this year, despite a 42-6 WSC record, because of the growing strength and depth of the conference. But Canyons will take a nine-game lead into Monday's WSC championship at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai. The seven-team conference will play two 18-hole matches that day, with each school getting one win for every school it finishes ahead of in each match.

``The competition is as good as it's ever been before,'' said Peterson, whose team has lost WSC tournaments to Moorpark, Santa Barbara and Bakersfield this year and had lost four consecutive conference tournaments before a big win last week at Rancho San Marcos.

Australian Daniel Marsh shot 70 that day to lead the Cougars to a winning total of 7-over-par 367, and the team followed with a brilliant showing at the College of the Desert tournament three days later, opening that two-round event with a season-best 345 led by Marsh's 66 and a 67 by Lawrence Jarvey. Oscar Modin (70), Aaron Frei (70) and former City Section champion Jay Montes of Sylmar (72) completed the scoring for the Cougars, who played without injured starter Tommy Mansuwan yet finished second in a strong field.

Mansuwan, a former state amateur finalist who - along with Montes and Marsh - is one of the Cougars' three returning starters from last year's state championship team, was back in the lineup Monday. He shot 70 to help Canyons place second in the final regular-season WSC tournament.

Peterson, facing a 14th postseason appearance after Monday's WSC championship, said his team might benefit from the stiff competition in the conference. He anticipates one of the most competitive regionals ever in the May 5 Southern California final at SCGA Members Club, where the top four finishers qualify for the May 12 state tournament.

``It's going to be wide open,'' he said. ``My feeling is any one of eight teams could win the regional. I'll be happy with fourth place there if we can win state.''

--On the move: Moorpark College, in just its third season since resuming a men's golf program that won a state championship before being dropped more than a decade ago, has been one of Canyons' strongest rivals this year.

Coach Will Thurston's Raiders, third in conference competition at 33-15 - just one victory behind second-place Santa Barbara - have won two WSC tournaments this year and also won the nonconference Bakersfield tournament.

``We're making some good progress,'' said Thurston, whose team added a strong freshman in former Thousand Oaks High golfer Kurt Taylor and got a strong transfer in Joe Larson, the former Newbury Park golfer who played for College of the Desert as a freshman.

Thurston uses performance against longtime-power Canyons as indication of any real growth in the program, and finishing ahead of the Cougars three times in WSC play has been a big step forward.

``It's been going in spurts for us,'' he said. ``Right now, the spurt is that we're playing well as a team. We're not relying on any one person to carry us, and in team play that's very important.''

Alan Johnson, Chris Pederson, Landon Etchings and Dante Ciolfi - whose playoff chip gave the Raiders their Bakersfield tournament victory - have been other contributors, combining with Taylor and Larson to give Moorpark six scores in the 70s during a fifth-place finish at the Citrus invitational.

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ON THE GREEN

- Dave Shelburne