Prep talk: Freshman golfer Jaden Soong of St. Francis loves pressure
Jaden Soong, a freshman golfer at St. Francis High, thrives under pressure.
'I will say I like pressure,' he said.
Twice in the last two weeks, he has won playoffs to keep his season going. But the story of his first playoff win is comedy at its best.
He had left the Temecula Creek Golf Club at the Southern Section individual championships after concluding he had failed to qualify for the SCGA regionals and stopped at Jack in the Box to get food for the ride home. Then he got a phone call from a friend: 'Hey dude, we're in a playoff.'
He was 17 minutes away from the course and needed to be back in 10 minutes. 'We hauled it,' he said.
Thankfully, there were no police with radar guns in the vicinity as he was driven back to the course.
The playoff had already started when he arrived. Players were in the fairway. He had no time to change into his golf shoes, so he played in his Nike Air Force shoes. He got a par on the first hole, then a birdie to win the playoff and advance. Last weekend, he won another playoff to reach the state championships on Tuesday at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach.
The 14-year-old is ready for anything.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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Southern California is where golf prodigies Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay first began to receive attention as youths, and 14-year-old Jaden Soong, a member of the Class of 2028 at St. Francis High in La Canada, is on the same path. On Tuesday, he mastered Poppy Hills Country Club, shooting a nine-under-par 62 to win the CIF state championship in Pebble Beach. He had no bogies, seven birdies and an eagle. He's believed to be the youngest to win a CIF individual golf title. It's just another achievement for someone who came close to qualifying for the U.S. Open as a 13-year-old in 2023. Soong only earned a chance to play on Tuesday by winning two playoffs to receive the invite as an at-large competitor. He said he hadn't played Poppy Hills since he was 7 or 8 but got a round in before Tuesday's competition. He had two birdies and an eagle on the front nine. Then came birdies on No. 10 and No. 11 to go to six under par. He and Evan Liu of Torrey Pines started to pull away from the rest of the field on the par-71 course. Liu was in the clubhouse at seven under after making a birdie on No. 18 to finish with a 64, with Soong at six under with six holes to play. Soong tied Liu at seven under with a birdie on No. 14, a 369-yard par-four hole. Then he went to eight under with a birdie on the par-three No. 17. He hit a perfect drive on No. 18, a 503-yard par-five hol,e and had a 13-foot putt for an eagle before settling for a tap in birdie. Soong loves pressure and showed his comfort level throughout a round to remember. Stevenson High in Monterey won the team title.
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