The most compelling story surrounding last week’s Nissan Open had nothing to do with the leaderboard, but rather whether the hallowed greens and fairways at Riviera Country Club could hold up under four days of driving rain. After two rounds, 19 golfers were within four shots of co-leaders Adam Scott and Chad Campbell, who were both 9-under par. It appeared to be anyone’s tournament to win with two rounds left. But when continued thunder showers saturated the course beyond playability, the event was cancelled early Monday morning. Sure, Scott beat Campbell on the first playoff hole and was presented with the tournament trophy, but because only 36 holes were completed, he was not credited with an official victory. And in the press tent afterwards, he admitted he didn’t even feel like the winner. ‘It’s nice to have the trophy and I will be called the champion but it does feel different,’ said the 24-year-old Australian, who hails from Hope Island, Australia. ‘I don’t feel tired and drained like you normally do when it’s finally over and you have been battling some guy for the last 36 holes or something. It’s unfortunate circumstances, but there has to be a winner, I guess.’ Two hours after the third round was cancelled, the two co-leaders met at the 18th tee for a playoff to determine who would be declared the unofficial winner. Scott hooked his drive into the rough while Campbell’s ball landed smack in the middle of the fairway, giving him the early advantage. But Scott’s second shot from 242 yards out left him good position just off the green while his opponent hit into the sparse crowd assembled just off the green. Scott’s chip landed three feet below the pin while Campbell’s attempt rolled to a stop four feet above the pin. Now, both players were faced with short par putts. ‘There’s been a lot of waiting and killing time,’ said Scott, who moved up to No. 7 in the world rankings. ‘It was a tough break for Chad because he hasn’t hit a shot in two days where I got to play a little bit everyday. So maybe that was better for me. But a playoff is unpredictable.’ Campbell putted first and his attempt looked true but veered left at the last instant, rolling off the edge of the cup and stopping three feet to the right of the hole. Scott took a few moments to line up his own shot and drained it, giving a half-hearted wave of acknowledgement to his opponent and the spectators. ‘I’m definitely disappointed,’ said Campbell, a 30-year-old from Lewisville, Texas. ‘Whether it’s official or not, I don’t like losing. I would have liked to continue the tournament. I think everybody would have at least liked to get 54 holes in, but it’s just not possible. The course can’t take this much rain. No course can.’ Darren Clarke and Brian Davis finished tied for second at 8-under, Colin Montgomerie and J.L. Lewis were 7-under and six players were at 6-under through 36 holes. Tiger Woods, looking to regain the No. 1 ranking he lost last year, needed to finish fourth or higher to overtake Vijay Singh, who decided to skip the Nissan Open. Woods was in striking distance after two rounds’only four shots back’but he would’ve been closer if he hadn’t double-bogeyed the 18th hole Sunday morning. In 78 previous years at the Nissan Open, only once was the tournament shortened due to inclement weather. That was in 1993 when Tom Kite won by three strokes in a 54-hole event. Mike Weir, who won the previous two events, finished tied for 37th at 2-under-par. Little did he know it then, but Scott would not even have forced a playoff had he not made a 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole Sunday morning that pulled him even with Campbell after two rounds. ‘That was a big putt. We all knew that the weather report wasn’t looking good for Monday. So I thought that might be it and it was nice to knock that one in for sure, just to give me the chance.’

Ernie Schoop and his son, Chris, were ranked No. 1 in 2004 in the United States Tennis Association’s Senior Father & Son Division. The Palisadian pair played four tournaments on four different surfaces, reaching the finals of the National Indoors in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, finishing fifth at the National Hardcourts in Newport Beach, finishing fourth at the National Grass Courts in Locust Valley, New York, and finishing fifth at the National Clay Court championships in Sarasota, Florida. ‘We were actually shocked that we were ranked No. 1 because we didn’t win one tournament all year,’ Chris said. ‘Also, we’d lost to five teams ranked below us. We assume that the rankings are now decided by the number of points you accumulate in each tournament. Based on that, we played all four tournaments and did consistently well in each one, so we had more points than any other team at year’s end.’ The last time the Schoops were ranked atop their division was in 1996, when they won both the National Hardcourts and National Grass Court titles. ‘In a way, we feel bad that we are ranked above the teams that had direct wins over us,’ Chris added. ‘I think what the USTA is trying to do is encourage people to play more tournaments by basing it only on points accumulated.’ The younger Schoop said would be their last year in the Senior Father and Son Division (where the father has to be 60 or over). Next year, they will move up to the Super Senior Father and Son, where the father has to be 70 or older. ‘We are looking forward to that because the teams in our current division seem to get stronger and younger every year,’ Chris said. ‘It’ll be nice to finally be the new ‘younger guys’ in our division.’

Palisades Recreation Center will host a Basketball Skills Challenge this Saturday and Sunday for boys and girls ages 5-15. The event is open to all players, whether they played in the Palisades Basketball League or not. Every participant will receive a medal and event winners will get a trophy. Players can compete in all the contests or just one. Rookie Division (open to players born in 1998-99) contests will begin on Saturday at 10 a.m., Bantam Division (born 1996-97) contests will begin on Saturday at noon, Minor Division (born 1994-95) contests will begin Saturday at 3 p.m., Major Division (born 1992-93) contests will begin Sunday at noon and Junior Division (born 1989-91) will begin on Sunday at 4 p.m. Contests are as follows: NBA 2-Ball: Each team of two has one minute to score as many baskets as possible from any of the designated shooting spots; 3-Point Contest: Players have one minute to make as many three-point baskets as possible. Top scorers advance to the next round; Free Throw Contest: Players shoot 10 free throws, with top scorers advancing to the next round; 2-on-2: Half-court games in a double-elimination format. No games in rookie division; Slam Dunk Contest: Junior Division only. Players receive scores from judges based on the difficulty and quality of their dunks on 8-foot baskets. Top scores advance. For more information, call Rec Center Director David Gadelha: 454-1412. East Wins All-Star Game The Palisades Recreation Center held its interleague Minors All-Star basktball game last week, with the beasts of the East edging the best of the West, 60-57. Kahlil Simplis scored 22 points, Alden Cusick had 19 and Brian Lewis added eight for the East, which raced to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter. Christopher Murch had 17 points, Austin Kamel had 16 and Kyle Warner added nine for the West, which responded with a 17-6 run in the second quarter to pull within 23-19 at halftime. The game was tied, 38-38, going into the fourth quarter. Henry Elkus, Dylan Klumph, Tommy Sanford and Orson Wetterberg rounded out the East all-stars while Willy Gansa, Leo Abbe-Schneider, Jack Ramsey and Chris Sebastian also contributed for the West.

The Palisades-Malibu YMCA swim team, under the guidance of coaches Kameron Kennedy, Eric Butler and Nick Stankovich, finished in third-place at last week’s Y Meet at South Gate Sports Center. With a contingent of 77 swimmers, Paly had several swimmers compete in older age groups. Twelve-year-old Jennifer Tartavull moved up to join older swimmers Alison Piazza, Hannah Haberfield and Erica Drennan to fill the Dolphins’ 15-and-under relay team, which finished second. Drennan had an outstanding meet with first-place swims in the 200 Freestyle (2:08.21), 100 Butterfly (1:10.01), 200 Backstroke (2:25.37), 200 Individual Medley (2:31.35) and 100 Backstroke (1:06.28), a second-place in the 100 Freestyle and a fourth in the 50 Freestyle. Haberfield placed in five events, her best a fifth-place finish in the 200 Individual Medley. Piazza also placed in five events, finishing sixth in both the 200 Individual Medley and 100 Backstroke. The 13 & 14-year-old boys had two excellent relays, taking second in the Medley Relay (Colin Magana, James deMayo, Nick Karody, and Ben Lewenstein) and third in the Freestyle Relay (Nick Barnett, Jeremy Ratib, Lewenstein, and Karody). Alex Fujinaka won the 200 Freestyle (2:04.95) and was runner-up in the 50 Freestyle. Karody captured third in the 100 Breaststroke and fifth in the 100 Backstroke. Jerad Brown went from a 1:49.38 in the Butterfly to 1:26.56. The 11 & 12-year-old girls won both the Freestyle Relay (Alexandra Edel, Allison Merz, Jennifer Tartavull, and Haley Lemoine) and the Medley relay (Shelby Pascoe, Edel, Merz, and Lemoine). Edel once again had a superb meet, winning the 200 Freestyle (2:09.26), 50 Breaststroke (35.40), 50 Freestyle (27.65), 200 Individual Medley (2:26.68) and 50 Backstroke (32.66), as well as placing second in the 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle and 100 Breaststroke. Merz placed second in the 200 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly and third in the 100 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley. Tartavull won the 100 Breaststroke, took second in the 50 Breaststroke and took third in the 200 Freestyle and 50 Freestyle. Lemoine was fourth in the 50 Breaststroke, 100 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley, as well as fifth in the 100 Butterfly. Pascoe was fourth in the 100 Backstroke and the 50 Backstroke and fifth in the 200 Freestyle. Danny Fujinaka led the 11 & 12-year-old boys with three firsts in the 200 Individual Medley (2:28.69), the 100 Freestyle (100.04) and the 50 Breaststroke (36.28), as well as second in the 100 Butterfly. The boys’ Freestyle Relay (Fujinaka, Kevin Carswell, Stephen Anthony, Yanov Slava) took second and the Medley relay (Matthew Piazza, Stephen Anthony, Jacob Defilippis, and Tommy Collins) took sixth. Placing high enough to score points for the team in individual events were Yanov, Anthony, Carswell, Defilippis, Joey Oetzell, Piazza, and Tiago Santa-Clara. Paly’s youngest swimmers continue to work on refining strokes, which will eventually lead to even faster times. The girls’ 10-and-under Freestyle Relay (Catherine Wang, Olivia Kirkpatrick, Mara Silka, and Courtney Carswell) took third as did the Medley Relay (Wang, Kirkpatrick Josephine Kremer, and Adelaide Seaman). Wang took first in the 100 Freestyle (1:03.54), 200 Freestyle (2:18.78) and 50 Butterfly (32.30). She also took second in the 200 Individual Medley and 50 Freestyle. Wang was third in the 50 Breaststroke and fourth in the 50 Backstroke while Carswell won the 25 Freestyle (16.83), took second in both the 100 Individual Medley and 25 Backstroke, took third in the 25 Butterfly and 50 Freestyle, and took fourth in the 25 Breaststroke. Alexander Landau, 8, took third in the 25 Butterfly and fourth in the 100 Individual Medley. Nicolas Green was fifth in the 50 Freestyle. Y Champs are February 28-29 at the Commerce Natatorium. Coach Kennedy is looking for more broken records: ‘I expect times to fall even further. The kids are motivated and putting the time in necessary to make it happen.’ Special swim clinics are being held at the Y on weekends but space is limited.

Charging Towards a Championship

How do you top a near-perfect season? That’s the unanswered question in the dugout of the Palisades High varsity baseball team, which came within two outs of finishing undefeated in the Western League last spring. To at least one player, the answer to that lingering question is simple. “Obviously, the way you top that is to be perfect, to go undefeated,” says junior second baseman Matt Skolnik. “This team is better than last year’s. We’ve got better pitching, better pitching and we’re going into the season better prepared.” Part of that preparation was an arduous off-season program instituted by new speed and conditioning coach and ex-PaliHi player Greg Strausberg. Several players have benefited from the extra reps in the weight room and long-distance running implemented into the Dolphins’ training regimen. “There’s a huge difference from where I was at the start of last season to where I am now,” senior pitcher David Bromberg says. “I’m in much better shape, I feel a lot stronger and that has really improved the velocity on my fastball. I’m throwing my fastball 88 to 90 miles an hour.” To duplicate or even improve upon last season’s 14-1 league record, Palisades will favor consistency–playing “small ball” rather than relying on one or two big plays–to win games. The team’s motto is inscribed on the back of every player’s practice jersey: “Get to the yard early… leave late.” “Pitching and defense are the backbone of our team,” says Tom Seyler, who will share the head coaching duties with Kelly Loftus as they did last year when they took over for Russ Howard. “With David [Skolnik] and Dylan [Cohen] up the middle, we’ve got a great double play combination. We’re not fast enough to do a lot of straight steals but you can bet we’ll play hit-and-run and lay down sacrifice bunts all day long.” Lost to graduation are the aces of last year’s pitching staff, Geoff Schwartz and Andrew Strassner. In their place will be right-handers Bromberg and Folse, both second-team All-League selections in 2004. Bromberg will double as the Dolphins’ starting first baseman and Folse will patrol center field. “We’re going to rely on our starters to pitch five or six innings and hope we can bring in Mitchell [Schwartz] or Cole [Cook] to squash out any late rallies,” Seyler says. “And Matt [Skolnik] will be our closer. He’s not afraid to throw strikes, he has a good curve, a good change up, and he proved last year he can handle pressure situations.” Bromberg, who is being scouted by several major league teams, including the Twins, Padres and Yankees, says he feels less urgency to strike out every batter knowing he has a solid defense behind him: “I really trust my infield. I don’t have to be afraid when I’m down in the count because I know my guys can make the play.” A key to Pali’s success could be the progress behind the plate of junior Tim Sunderland, who will try to fill the shoes of graduated catcher Adam Franks, last year’s league most valuable player. Sunderland was the backstop last season for the junior varsity squad, which did go undefeated’its only blemish a tie with Hamilton. “We have to be smarter and play better fundamentally than our opponents,” senior Frederick Douglas says. “Our coaches do a great job coming up with a strategy for each team and its our job to execute it.” Douglas and sophomore Andy Megee are still competing for the starting spot at third base. Senior Monte Doebel-Hickock will start in left field, sophomore Austin Jones in right. Rounding out the squad are junior outfielders Jeff Dauber, Seri Kattan-Wright, Bobby Hicks and Alex Pekelis. “First we want to win league again, but beyond that we want to go deep into the playoffs,” says Cohen, who earned first-team All-League honors with Skolnik last spring. “Our lineup should be pretty good, especially the top five guys in the order. We’re all pretty tough outs.” The Dolphins enter the season with three objectives: defend their league title, qualify for the City’s upper division playoffs and win a postseason game. “We exceeded expectations last year but I’m disappointed we couldn’t win that playoff game,” Seyler says, referring to Pali’s first-round loss to San Fernando. “It’s important to beat the good [San Fernando Valley] schools because that’s how you earn respect for your team and your league.” Palisades holds its annual alumni fundraiser Saturday, February 26, then opens the season with an intersectional game March 4 at Oxnard. Three days later, the Dolphins will travel to San Fernando with a chance to prove they are better than the team the Tigers beat in June. League play begins March 28 against University. Cohen started alongside Skolnik at Dodger Stadium when Palisades won the City Invitational playoffs two years ago, and he relishes the thought of going back. “That was a great experience, but nothing would compare with playing for the City championship.” Junior Varsity Preparing his players for varsity will be the primary goal for second-year coach David Kloser, who guided the JV to a 14-0-1 league record last spring. Kloser is also an author and he visits Village Books tonight to discuss and sign copies of his new book, “Stepping Up to the Plate: Inspiring Interviews with Major Leaguers.” The Dolphins’ JV squad features a mix of talented underclassmen. Freshmen include first baseman Zach Dauber, second basemen Jared Sklar and Alex Meadow, outfielders Jonathan Kramer, Brian Hanson, Riley Evans, Elliott Engelmann and Michael Latt, and catchers Lucas Berry, Alejandro Medrano and Garrett Champion. Sophomores are short stop Adam Greene, third baseman/pitcher William Buckner, first basemen/pitchers Johnny Bromberg and Robert Rosenberg and outfielders Alexander Hubbs, Jack Eller and Jake Jesson.