Barons Are Climbing Back Up After Years of Being Down

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — The smiles on the players’ faces hint that things are going very well for the Fountain Valley golf team. But they don’t begin to show the magnitude of the Barons’ turnaround.

Some background helps to show how far Fountain Valley has come. Only two seasons ago, the Barons didn’t win a match; now they are 5-1, including a victory last week over Brea Olinda, ranked sixth in Orange County.

“We’ve been down so long, it’s fun to start climbing back up,” Baron Coach Don Terranove said. “But we’re not there yet.”

Terranove, in his eighth season, is understandably cautious, given that the Barons started 7-1 in 1996, only to lose nine of their last 10 matches. But all the evidence points to this being a breakthrough year for a program that hasn’t had a winning season for at least 10 years (maybe longer, Terranove’s records only go back to 1987).

The Barons are doing it with six solid golfers, none of them seniors. The early returns have been impressive:

* Eric Hird, a junior in his third season on the varsity, smashed the Fountain Valley record for 18 holes with a five-under-par 66 in a match split between Mile Square and Willowick golf courses. It was the first under-par round of his life.

* Jeff Greenfield, a sophomore who has been playing seriously for less than two years, set the previous record of 71 three days previously.

* Todd Dieudonne, a freshman, has shot 72, two strokes better than the school record entering the season.

* Candie Kung, a sophomore and accomplished American Junior Golf Assn. player, is averaging better than 40 for nine holes despite playing the same tees as the boys.

* Jason Koh, a junior who tied Greenfield as the Barons’ low scorer last season, has started slowly but is showing signs of improvement.

* Ryan Robertson, a freshman, is averaging 42.07 strokes per nine holes. That is slightly better than the Barons’ No. 1 players last season.

“Everyone has just improved so much from last year, and when everyone’s improving their confidence starts going up,” Greenfield said. “Whether it’s against Brea when they were ranked sixth in Orange County or against University, we knew we could beat any of them.”

University, ranked fourth in the county, handed Fountain Valley its only loss, 391-401, but the close margin should give the Barons’ Sunset League opponents something to think about.

That’s a nice thought for Hird, who as a freshman was forced to endure the Barons’ 0-13 season. “I think the toughest thing was the attitude of the other teams in the league because we were never taken seriously at all,” Hird said. “It’s not like they were cruel, but no one has ever taken the Fountain Valley golf program seriously.

“This year we have a good team and we have a good shot at finishing in the top three.”

It won’t be easy. The Sunset League is consistently one of the toughest in the county. Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Esperanza and Marina all have traditionally strong programs. Edison, which usually joins Fountain Valley in the league’s lower regions, is undefeated.

But the challenge, which begins in two weeks against Marina at Mile Square, doesn’t dampen Terranove’s spirits. “I agree it’s early and we have a tough league,” he said. “But at least we are going into it with a chance to do well.”