LBHS Golf wins all four CIF spots at OC League Tournament – and Ben Sharp is named 2018 MVP
LBHS Golf played this week in the Orange Coast League Individual Tournament, winning places one through five and claiming all four CIF playoff spots.
This was a 36-hole event over two days at Skylinks golf course in Long Beach. The first day, there were approximately 30 players from all the different teams in the league and everyone played 18 holes of golf. The low 12 scores returned for the final day. The first day’s scores carried over and were added to the second day’s scores.

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Kyle Sharp on the tee
Laguna entered seven players into the tournament. The following five Laguna players made the cut to compete the second day with their scores and standing after the first day: 1st: Ben Sharp – 74, 2nd: Kyle Sharp – 78, 3rd: Chase Gioffredi – 80, tied for 4th: Gus Morck and Dante Fornaro – 82.
On the second day of the Orange Coast League Tournament, the tees were all the way back at the black tees, measuring at 6,909 yards. It turned out to be a great day for the program with the five remaining Laguna players finishing 1-5, Coach Quigley said.
All of them earned First Team All-League. In addition, all four of the CIF individual playoffs spots from the OC League went to Laguna players.
The final standings for LBHS players were: 1st: Ben Sharp – 74/79 = 153, 2nd:Kyle Sharp – 78/77 = 155, 3rd: Chase Gioffredi – 80/79 = 159, 4th: Dante Fornaro – 82/81 = 163, 5th: Gus Morck – 82/83 = 165.
It was a big day for senior Ben Sharp. The coach says he was striking the ball really well and played two smart days of golf, which gave him scores of 74 and 79, and a two-stroke win over his twin brother Kyle Sharp.
Ben Sharp’s first OC League Tournament, and he wins
This was the first OC league tournament for Ben, as academically he is the #2 ranked student at the high school and although he has qualified to play, he did not play in the prior two annual tournaments because playoffs conflicted with AP testing. This year, however, he decided to rearrange his schedule and play.
“Ben is a good ball striker, has a good short game and can putt lights out,” said Coach Quigley. “When you have all these skills and you don’t tend to get into any big trouble on the course, it will move you to the top of the leaderboard. It all came together for him and it’s great to see him earn the win and Orange Coast League MVP for 2018.”
The coach added, “It’s great to see all five of our Laguna players sweep the top spots in the tournament. This team and all these individual players really excel because they have high golfing IQ’s and are committed to improving all the time. They play golf year round and several of them compete in the junior tournament schedule in Southern California.

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Gus Morck, Kyle Sharp, Chase Gioffredi, and Ben Sharp (with assistant coach Tom Levinstein) celebrate a recent win; Dante Fornaro, who earned a CIF playoff spot in the OC League Tournament, is not pictured here
“They are committed to not only improving their golfing skills, but also their fitness and how they perform on the course with good decision-making and course management. When you put it all together, this team is one of the deepest and most talented teams we’ve had at Laguna in a long time and it’s been fun for me and the other coaches to go along for the ride with them.”
The Sharp brothers are sharp players
Senior captain Kyle Sharp won this same tournament last year and he made a good run over the first nine holes yesterday shooting even par and gaining two strokes on his brother. But he dropped some shots on the back nine and had to settle for second place this year.
“Overall, Kyle has been the foundation of our success this year as a team,” said Coach Quigley. “He has been the low scoring player in 11 of the 17 matches we played this year. He consistently scores well, averaging one over par 37 for nine holes. He is driven to get better all the time and he has the one quality that all high achieving athletes possess – he is a fierce competitor. Attitude and a strong desire to compete will take you a long way and those qualities should help him at the next level when he plays golf in college for the University of Redlands.”
Junior Chase Gioffredi finished in third place and qualified for CIF playoffs again this year after making it last year as a sophomore.
“Chase has off the charts physical skills and has the ability to score really low at any time,” said the coach. “If he has a good day in the CIF tournament, he has the potential to be in the running to not only make the cut but also place high on the leaderboard.”
Dante Fornaro qualifies for CIF playoffs, the third year in a row
Senior Dante Fornaro finished fourth and again qualifies for CIF playoffs for the third year in a row.
The coach added, “Dante is a very smart player and rarely if ever makes any mistakes in his decisions. His ball flight is consistent and straight and he also has a good short game. If everything comes together in CIF, he can also post a low score and be in the running to make the cut.”
In addition, one great accomplishment this year is that seniors Kyle Sharp, Ben Sharp and Dante Fornaro have all been on the varsity team since they were freshmen and they have won four straight league championships. They have never lost a league match throughout their careers.
“It’s been fun working with them as golfers and watching them grow up from being little freshmen boys (all of them weighed about 115 pounds as freshmen) into young men ready to go off to college,” said Coach Quigley.
CIF playoffs take place in the next couple of weeks
There are two tracks for CIF playoffs in golf, individual and team.
“Even in the first round they are super competitive,” Quigley says. “There are no divisions; rather, all players/schools are grouped into several regional tournaments regardless of school size.
“Laguna is in the southern individual regional and our players will compete with players from most of the leagues in Orange County, Long Beach, San Gabriel Valley and the Trinity league private schools like JSerra, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, etc. So, there are a ton of good players who will go on to play in college who won’t even make it out of the first round.
“Laguna has not had any boys make it out of the first round in a long time. We did have a girl, Grace Komoroczy, make it to the second round a couple times about 10 years ago.”

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LBHS golf team
The first round of CIF individual playoffs takes place on Monday, May 7. Kyle Sharp, Ben Sharp, Chase Gioffredi and Dante Fornaro will be entered for Laguna. There will be approximately 115 players in the tournament and only the top 20 move on to the next round.
CIF team playoffs, first round, kick off on Monday, May 14. Laguna will compete with approximately 24 other teams. Only the top two teams advance.
On Thursday, May 17, the CIF Southern Section Individual Championships and Team State Qualifier take place. If any individual or team advances past the first round, they will play in this tournament, held in Santa Barbara.
And those winners will advance to a SoCal Regional Final followed by the State Final.