Bobby Barajas has been there, done that. Twice.

Now the Righetti High School senior wants to take the next step.

He will be on his third go-round at the CIF Southern Section Golf Championships when he takes to the links at 8 a.m. today at Mission Lakes Country Club. Mission Lakes is in Desert Hot Springs, just outside Palm Springs.

This time, “I want to go on,” Barajas said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I won the (Southern Section) Northern Regional tournament last year, made it to the Southern Sectional Finals the last three years, but I've never made it past there.”

The place Barajas wants to go to is the Southern California Championships, the May 29 qualifier for the CIF State Tournament. Barajas said, to do that, “I need to just keep the ball in play.

“If I do that and just eliminate the mental mistakes, just play smart, with the way I'm playing now, my game should carry me on to the next level.”

The way Barajas has been playing recently has been good enough to get his game to “scratch, even par,” he said.

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“I'd have to say what's improved the most likely for me lately is my iron play and ball striking. Plus, a little bit of putting. My putting had been pretty good before, but it's been better lately.”

Righetti coach Terrence Got said, “He changed putters. He went back to his old putter about four weeks ago, and he's definitely been rolling the rock better.”

Barajas' game earlier this year was good enough for him to earn his second straight runner-up finish for the PAC-7 League MVP.

Barajas said, “Jon Eric Cook of Paso Robles won it this year. I was behind the winner by one stroke last year.”

Most of the season, “I averaged about one-and-a-half strokes over par,” said Barajas.

He will face a golf course today that belies its name.

Barajas said, “I've never played this particular course before, but I've played in Palm Springs, and all the courses are the same.

“All the courses there are very hot and dry. Palm Springs tends to have really narrow fairways, with tree lines alongside. If you hit your driver a little wayward, you can get a real high score on any of those holes.”

Got said, “Bobby's really been striking the ball well, but luck has a lot to do (with a golfer's score). As anyone who's involved in golf knows, you can hit the ball well enough to get the low score but not get the low score.”

Speaking of luck, Got said Barajas' way of dealing with the bad kind is one reason the Righetti senior is where he's at now.

“He handles bad luck well. He's got a lot of talent,” said Got, who just completed his sixth season as Righetti's coach. “But a lot of kids with natural talent don't have the temperament for the game.”

Got was the Santa Maria boys' assistant coach for a year before he came to Righetti. He's also coached Nipomo's girls the last three years.

Barajas is “always positive,” said Got. “He's always on an even keel. Bobby has the temperament and mental outlook for this game.”

Barajas said his consistency has been good, but it needs to get consistently better for him to rise to the next level.

“It's reasonable right now to compete, but I have lots of improvement to make in each part of my game. You're always looking to get better, and in golf there's always room to improve.”

Barajas has made a verbal commitment to play golf for Long Beach State next school year. He said he will soon sign a letter of intent to go there.

“It's a partial scholarship,” said Barajas. “There are two full scholarships available for three players, so I'll be playing for that next scholarship.”

Not bad for a guy who only took up the game a few years ago.

“I first took up golf when I was 14, my freshman year,” Barajas said. “Ever since I was a little kid I'd loved just playing baseball, but my dad (Armando) loved golf and he wanted to get me into golf so we could play together.

“I entered my first tournament when I was just over 14, and I just fell in love with the game.”

Barajas said his home course is Rancho Maria.

“I used to switch off between Rancho Maria and the Santa Maria Country Club, but the SMCC has been strictly St. Joseph's home course the last few years.

“Rancho Maria is not a difficult course, but it's a course where you can really practice your game. It's so wide open. We can go out and play a few holes whenever we want there. They're a little more strict about that at the SMCC.”

Barajas qualified for the 82nd U.S. Amateur Public Links Tournament in Chicago last summer, but, “Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut,” after the first two rounds, he said with a chuckle.

“I felt my game was good going in there. But then I got a strong case of the hooks.

“The rough is about six inches deep there. If you miss the fairway, you can barely chip out. At best, you can advance it 50 yards if you take a full swing. That's if you find the ball.”

Come this summer, “I may try for another berth in the Links, but I'm going to focus on trying to qualify for the U.S. Amateur,” said Barajas. “To make it, you have to shoot anywhere from five-to-10 under par for the two-round qualifier they have.”

May 19, 2008