The final round of the boys’ golf Foothill League season featured a close finish in the individual standings as the difference between first place and fourth place was 13-strokes going into Wednesday’s final round at the Sand Canyon Country Club.
In the end, Wildcats’ Tyler Sonnenberg claimed the individual title after the West Ranch golfer carded a 71 (-1) and medaled to close out a historic season.
Sonnenberg, who tied the Foothill League record for the lowest score in a round at the Oaks Clubs in Valencia with a 65 (-7), claimed the league title with a 356 score after all six rounds.
“Tyler was on a mission this year to repeat as league champion,” West Ranch coach Jeff Holen said. “His soul goal was to retain that championship.”
As for West Ranch, the Wildcats as a team carded a 395 score and finished four-strokes behind the Valencia Vikings in the final round, who ended the season as the Foothill League champions with a 1919 total score across all six rounds.
The Vikings ended the year with four golfers in the top five in the individual standings and for coach Waters, he’s proud of Valencia’s efforts for a strong 2026 campaign.
“The majority of the boys did a great job of keeping their composure and committing to each shot,” Waters said. “Knowing the lead heading in, it was important for them to continue with their solid play and keep up the momentum.”
Valencia’s Aidan Chroman, Lucas Buendia, and Namo Thoontakhob all finished four-over-par with a 76 (+4) but all had solid results to clinch the team title, according to Waters.
“Namo, Lucas, Aidan and Colby [Rosenfeld] were the four mainstays in each varsity match for us,” Waters said. “To be able to rely on those four, knowing they will put up a good number is comforting for the remainder of the team and takes some of the pressure off.”
The Vikings ended the season as winners of the Foothill League with a 91-stroke lead over second-place Saugus, who ended the year with a two-stroke difference over West Ranch to end the season.
The Wildcats ended the year posting a score of 395 at Sand Canyon while the Centurions finished with a score of 402.
Wildcats’ Jefferson Bowne and Eian Shepard made the cut for the California Interscholastic Federation individual regional tournament and joinedSonnenberg as the representatives of West Ranch High School.
The Southern Section individual regionals are set to begin on Monday, May 11th and feature the top 12 golfers from the Foothill League standings.
Tyler Melzian ended the year in 8th in the standings and led all Centurions to close out the year as fellow Saugus golfers Aidan Lee, Dallas Segal, and Deagan Humphrey are set to participate in the CIF individual regionals.
As for the rest of the Foothill League, the Hawks missed out on a golfer making the individual cut but ended the year in fourth place in the standings after posting a total team score of 426 in the final round.
For Canyon, the Cowboys ended the year in fifth and missed out on a golfer making the cut after the team posted a 415 score on Wednesday.
The Grizzlies and Coyotes round out the Foothill League standings in sixth and seventh, respectively, with Castaic’s Noah Solomon making the CIF individual cut after he carded an 80 (+8) at Sand Canyon.
The Vikings are set to participate in the Southern Section division team championships on Monday, May 18th. And for Waters, he’s looking forward to his team playing good golf and making a run at CIF.
“We know how talented the field will be in each tournament so keeping our blinders on and controlling the controllable will be key in order for us to make a run in CIF,” Waters said.
