Golf: Dream season for Hie and Orr
By Matt Zimmerman, Staff writer

Focus and finish.

A motto, a style, a mantra, a motivation. A mandate to stay the course, to keep one’s head in the game, to close out strong.

At Cerritos High, Rory Hie has been a major part of the boys golf team. For a squad that was always in the thick of the Suburban League race, he played four years, winning the Knabe Cup and the league individual title among his personal accolades.

But it was this season, the final one in high school for the USC-bound Hie, that he dominated. Indeed, he found the focus to finish his career on its highest note, winning the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament and the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) Tournament.

“It’s just because I’m playing in less national junior tournaments this year,” said Hie, who joined Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win both tournaments in the same season. “I had a lot of time, therefore I could prepare better for (CIF) than in the previous years. That’s why I played pretty well this year.”

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For their efforts this season, for focusing well and finishing strong, Hie is the 2006 Press-Telegram Dream Team Boys Golf Player of the Year, and Orr is the Coach of the Year.

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Hie closed out his prep career with a fifth-place finish at the CIF State tournament, three strokes under par at 69. Though he expressed the disappointment that can be expected from an athlete who sets high personal standards, Hie had driven from a U.S. Open qualifying tournament in Northern California, where he finished just out of a playoff.

“That’s a goal that I set every year, is to improve what I did the previous year,” Hie said. “If I continue improving, then I think I have a lot better chance next year of getting in the U.S. Open.”

Rory shot 69 – 69 –138 to take 17th place in the 2006 Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I. In the third round, Rory was 3-under through six holes, but due to weather problems, the play was stopped.

The tournament was scheduled to be 72 holes, but since in the next day the weather did not get better, it was cut short to only 36 holes.

Rory was featured in a local ABC Unified Talk Show, which will air in July.

Rory with the host

Golf: Hie takes fifth place in state tourney
Press-Telegram Staff Reports

Many golfers would call shooting a 3-under 69 at the CIF State tournament the best day of their lives. Cerritos senior Rory Hie’s take?

“Today was not my day.”

Perhaps, since Hie’s score Tuesday at Santa Maria Country Club was good only for fifth place, five strokes behind champion Rickie Fowler of Murrieta Valley High, who shot a 64. Earlier this postseason, Hie had won both the CIF Southern Section and SCGA tournaments, becoming the only golfer to do so in the same season other than Tiger Woods.

Monday, Hie played in a U.S. Open qualifier, missing a playoff by two strokes after double bogeying the final hole.

“It was Rickie’s day, he caught lightning in a bottle today,” Hie said. “I was kind of tired from yesterday. I felt like I couldn’t focus on my game today because of the U.S. Open qualifying.”

Hie, who was on the Cerritos varsity for all four of his prep seasons, will next play golf for USC.

“Last year was kind of a bummer for me. I didn’t really do well in high school at all. This year I started out differently. I set a goal for myself to raise my game to another level,” Hie said. “I felt like I’ve done that this season. But unfortunately, I didn’t reach my goal, which was to win state. But I won plenty of awards along the way, so I’m pretty happy with the way I finished this year.”

From staff reports

On the final day of the boys golf season, Rory Hie of Cerritos High will stand alone. At least, alone as far as area golfers are concerned. Hie won the CIF Southern Section Individual Championship and the SCGA Individual Championship, and has the fullest trophy case among the 48 golfers competing today in both team and individual competition.

The event, of course, is the CIF State finals, which are at Santa Maria Country Club. Hie will compete after spending Monday playing in a U.S. Open qualifier.

“I’m ready to make the drive to Santa Maria,” said the USC-bound Hie last week. “Right after I try to qualify for the U.S. Open, June 5, the day before.”

Hie shot a 6-under-par 66 to win both the CIF-SS and the SCGA tournaments.

At the US Open Sectional Qualifying in Daly City, CA, Rory shot 70-72–142, missing the cut by two strokes. Through the 35th hole, Rory was still 4-under (in position of making the cut), but a missing ball led to a double bogey on the final, 36th, hole.

Click to view Rory’s Scorecard

From the LA Times:

Cerritos’ Hie to Try for History at State Golf Championships
Peter Yoon; Eric Sondheimer, From Times Staff Reports
June 6, 2006

Rory Hie of Cerritos will attempt to make history Tuesday when he plays in the state golf championships at Santa Maria Country Club.

Hie, a senior who signed with USC, won the Southern Section individual championship and the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. regional championship. Should he win the state title, he would be the first to achieve that trifecta.

Only one player has won the Southern Section and regional championships in the same year: Tiger Woods in 1991. However, no state championships were contested that year. State championships for boys’ golf were held from 1976 to 1981 and reinstated in 2004.

Incoming Freshmen Hie, Lovemark Duke It Out At CIF Southern Regional
Hie defeats Lovemark in playoff.

June 5, 2006

In a battle of incoming USC freshmen, Rory Hie of Cerritos High defeated Jamie Lovemark of Torrey Pines High in a playoff to win the 2006 CIF-SCGA Southern Regional Championships on Friday (June 1).

Hie fired a 6-under 66 to defeat Lovemark. Both will begin their freshman year at USC in the upcoming fall semester.

Despite windy conditions, Hie, collected seven birdies and only one bogey on the 6,702-yard par-72 course, while future USC teammate and Lovemark came away with eight birdies and two bogies. Hie was victorious on the par-4 ninth in the one-hole playoff, scoring a four to Lovemark’s five.

Lovemark’s Torrey Pines’ team tied for first, but lost the team title on a six-man tiebreaker.

Taken from usga.org:

June 5 Daly City, Calif. (Lake Merced Golf Club): 67 golfers for 4 spots

Rory Hie, 17, of Lakewood, Calif., shot the low score in local qualifying. He is a senior at Cerritos High School in Lakewood and qualified in Palm Desert, Calif.