Defending league champion Highlanders closing in on another crown
Royal golf team holding a slim lead over Simi Valley
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers GET IN THE HOLE!- Royal's Paul Misko looks on in disbelief as his putt at Tierra Rejada Golf Club comes up just short of the cup on Wednesday afternoon. Misko and his Highlander teammates are aiming for another Marmonte League championship.

Last season the boys' golf team at Royal High completed the best season in the history of the Marmonte League. The Highlanders qualified for the CIFSouthern Section tournament and placed ninth in the finals.

This year the Highlanders may be even better.

Although RHS lost to secondplace Simi Valley on Tuesday by one stroke, Royal still leads its crosstown rivals by 22 strokes for first place in the Marmonte League standings.

Royal head coach Bob Misko, who has guided the Highlanders for 16 seasons, said this year's team may be the best he's ever coached.

"I think the jury is still out on that one," Misko said. "We still have a couple matches left and then CIF, so it's hard to say right now. However, last year we had the best average in Marmonte League history, and this year we are on course to shoot even lower."

Misko's son Paul, a senior at Royal, has been playing well during the past month. He shot a 67 at Sunset Hills Country Club and a 68 at Los Robles Greens.

"I feel like my putting is really starting to come along," Paul Misko said. "Also, I think I've been doing better with my long irons. I've been practicing a lot with them lately because some of the courses we've been playing recently have been longer."

Misko is the team's No. 2 golfer, while senior Matt Hottenberg occupies the No. 1 singles spot.

Hottenberg is tied for the league lead in individual low score with a 7-under-par. Last month Hottenberg broke the school record by shooting a 64.

"He is a born natural," Bob Misko said of the left-handed Hottenberg. "He rarely even takes a practice swing. He just walks up to the ball, looks to where he needs to hit it, and then he hits it there. I mean, it's not fair to the rest of us how good he plays."

Hottenberg first started playing golf at the age of 3 and hit his first and only career hole-in-one when he was 7. Over time, Hottenberg started to appreciate the game even more when he saw the success of his older brother Danny, who graduated from Royal in 2005.

Danny Hottenberg owns the school record for lowest average at Royal, but that record may fall soon to his younger brother, who's currently less than a stroke behind Danny's all-time mark.

"Just the other day I was up on him by a little bit, but now I'm behind again," Matt Hottenberg said. "It's a playful little rivalry we have, and it's kind of cool chasing his record because it's him and not someone that did it 20 years ago that I don't know."

The team's No. 3 golfer is junior Danny Katz, who won the Marmonte League title as a sophomore for lowest average. In the No. 4 spot is junior Kyle Holden. Misko said Holden has improved by leaps and bounds from a year ago.

In the No. 5 position is junior Shane Blanchard, while the sixth spot belongs to senior Matt Minae.

"Shane is one of the best chippers in the league," the coach said. "He's a real bulldog and battles hard every day.

"Matt is a very steady player for us. We get a lot out of his game, and every day he's focused when he plays."

Paul Misko explained that even though the team lost a tough match to Simi Valley this week, he thinks the Highlanders will respond in a positive way.

"I don't think that match will get us down," the younger Misko said. "If anything, it should make our players want to bounce back tough. Nobody on this team likes to lose."

Misko said the team would obviously like to win league and compete in the CIFSS championship again, but the ultimate goal is to get to the state championship.

"We're going to be at CIF; I mean, there is almost no way that doesn't happen," Bob Misko said. "That being said, we need to keep playing good on the right days. Thankfully for us we have played good in tournaments, so that has helped us.

"We can't worry about how Simi Valley is doing and how everyone else in our league is doing. We must have all of our attention on how well we play on the golf course. Our ultimate enemy is the golf course itself. We need to take it one shot at a time because we are only as good as our next shot."

Royal's next match is Tuesday at Tierra Rejada Golf Club where the Highlanders will battle Calabasas and Moorpark. Tee time is set for noon.