Canyon

MEN'S SOCCER Orange Coast 5, Santiago Canyon 0 ORANGE - Jorge Sanchez and Brandon Brennan each had two goals and an assist for the Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday. Baji Chela added a goal and three assists and goaie Connor Nelson made three saves in his shutout for OCC (8-3-3, 4-2-2 in conference). The Pirates return to action on Tuesday at home against Norco College at 3 p.m. * WOMEN'S SOCCER Orange Coast 4, Norco 0 COSTA MESA - Sara Gomez had two goals and an assist for the Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday.

ORANGE - To reach the Santiago Canyon College soccer field, one must weave through a meandering campus, ascend five stories of stairs and follow a path lined with marshy bushes to a fenced-in plateau that seems to sit atop the horizon like a sod-covered cloud. For visitors, the ascent is apropos. It is thus, because the host Hawks women's team has hovered atop the Orange Empire Conference since the first of their eight straight titles in 2004. This season, all Santiago Canyon has done is refuse to lose.

Big Canyon and Newport Beach country clubs will be the host sites for the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier for the Western United States June 3, 2013, the Southern California Golf Assn. has announced. The SCGA will conduct the sectional qualifier, the final stage to the Open. The qualifiers - last year there were seven from the west - will advance to the Open June 13-16 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. Last year, the Western U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier was played at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City and the TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.

It would seem easy, or refreshing, to write a story about Mike Carpenter and provide the impression that he stumbled upon the game of golf. But that would be unfair to his persona and to the reason he continues to play. To put it simply, Carpenter is a competitor. From tee to green, he displays a strong competitive spirit that was seen on the basketball court while growing up in Laguna Beach. Carpenter played basketball at Santa Margarita High. Hoops was his world back then, but he still had time for fun with golf too. He said his parents were members at Big Canyon Country Club, and Carpenter also played there.

Motorists planning to travel on Sand Canyon Avenue, just south of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Irvine, will want to pick an alternate route this week. There will be a construction-related road closure between Oak Canyon and Laguna Canyon roads. The closure, which was slated to start at 8 p.m. Friday, is in effect until 5 a.m. Aug. 6 and will require travelers to detour around the area via Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive. The closure is part of the city of Irvine's long-term, $56-million Sand Canyon Undercrossing project, a grade separation of the street and train routes giving vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists safer and more efficient travel under the railroad tracks, according to the city's website.

NEWPORT BEACH - For a guy who never played Big Canyon Country Club before this week, Bhavik Patel sure made the 113th Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship look easy. The 21-year-old Bakersfield resident capped an impressive three days of golf with his fourth straight under-par round to finish the championship at nine-under (71-71-67-70 - 279), an eight-shot victory over Xander Schauffele of San Diego (68-71-74-74 - 287). Patel was solid as a house built on rock, with no bogeys in his final two rounds.

NEWPORT BEACH - This week is becoming quite memorable for Stewart Hagestad. The 21-year-old Big Canyon Country Club member qualified for his fourth United States Amateur championship at the Old Works Golf Course in Anaconda, Mont., on Monday. Then Saturday at his home course he shot a three-under-par 69 to move into second place after 54 holes of the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur championship. Hagestad, playing the SCGA Amateur for the first time, is four-under (70-73-69 - 212)

NEWPORT BEACH - What little breathing room there was for competitors during the first 36 holes of the 113th Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur championship, Xander Schauffele bottled enough to sustain him all the way to the top of the leaderboard. Big Canyon Country Club rendered some sweaty, exhausted faces as the sun set Friday evening, with only six of 80-plus players finishing the first two rounds under par. Schauffele, who transferred to San Diego State from Long Beach, bolted to a four-under-68 on his first 18 and followed with a one-under 71 on the afternoon round to take a three-shot lead over 2011 California Amateur champion Bhavik Patel (71-71 - 142)

NEWPORT BEACH - One practice round is all Kirk Manley and his four Shady Canyon Golf Club teammates had to prepare for the Jones Cup at Newport Beach Country Club. After Wednesday's tournament, it was apparent Shady Canyon needed more time on the course before the 13th annual event. The Irvine-based club finished in fourth place at eight-under-par 134 in the two best-ball format. Big Canyon won in a playoff against Mesa Verde. Manley, the head professional at Shady Canyon, believed his team would compete against the four other area country clubs, perennial champion Big Canyon, Mesa Verde, Santa Ana and Newport Beach.

NEWPORT BEACH - Independence Day is next week, but Big Canyon Country Club brought the fireworks early to Newport Beach Country Club Wednesday in a Jones Cup for the ages. The defending champs went birdie-eagle on the par-five 18th hole to force a playoff with Mesa Verde Country Club as both teams finished 18 holes at 12-under-par 130. Big Canyon men's champion Mike Carpenter echoed roars of four years ago with a heroic 25-foot eagle putt to help secure a playoff, also on the 18th hole, after assistant pro Mike Castillo got up-and-down for a birdie.