Pali High Golfers Beat Taft at Woodley Lakes

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The Palisades High boys golf team is off to a fast start in its quest to retain the City Section championship.   

Even in the rain the Dolphins took care of business against Taft last Friday at Woodley Lakes, where  Kourey Patterson led the way with a two-under par 34 over nine holes.  Fellow senior Gavin Loughran shot even par, Alec Lam carded a 39 and three players—Harrison Rautbort, Zane Govindraj and Michael Conner—shot 40s. Grant Bigalow shot a 41 and Luke Schultz fired a 47, though their scores did not count towards the team total of 189.    

“We played pretty well considering the wet conditions,” said Coach Dave Suarez, who has piloted the boys and girls teams to two titles apiece since taking over the program in 2021. “The goal is to keep improving and get more consistent as the season goes on.”

Palisades opened the season by tying Windward 210-210 on Feb. 28 at Rancho Park. Loughran led the way with a 39 (four over par).

The Dolphins took on Brentwood on March 2 at Griffith Park’s Harding  course and won 212-217 despite the absence of Lam and Schultz.  Patterson shot a 38 and Loughran shot a 42. Govindraj, Liam Hussain and Bigalow all shot 43s. Conner shot a 44, Gavin Sternberg shot a 45 and Rautbort  and Levi Salzman fired 46s. If the weather cooperated and the course dried out, Palisades was scheduled Wednesday to host a league match against  Chatsworth at Rancho and will take on El Camino Real on March 22 at Balboa. Also on the docket are three more intersectional matches, versus Notre Dame (March 27 at Mountaingate and again April 17 at Rancho) and Harvard-Westlake (Tuesday, April 11 at Harding). Palisades faces its biggest league and City rival Granada Hills on March 30 at Knollwood.

The regular season wraps up with league contests against Cleveland on April 14 at Balboa amd El Camino Real on April 20 at Encino.

While Suarez might not have his most talented squad ever, it is easily his deepest. The roster also features freshmen Leonard Welch, Cole Richter and Caleb Kim, sophomores Jacob Leatherman and Mason Geller and junior Logan Musser.