The 2020 Orange Empire Conference men's golf season, like most athletic events throughout the country, has come to an early end due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
   
Less than seven weeks into the 2020 season - and just two weeks into the conference schedule – the men's golf season was halted when the CCCAA postponed all spring sports indefinitely due to the fast-spreading virus.  A week later, on March 19, the CCCAA Board of Directors voted unanimously to cancel all spring sports and restore the season of competition for these student-athletes.  Thusly, a sophomore student-athlete would be able to return next season as a sophomore again as long as he was a member in good standing on his team as of March 12 when the season was halted.
   
This ruling affects about 9,500 California community college student-athletes statewide and about 75 student-athletes participating in men's golf in the Orange Empire Conference this season.
   
When the season was halted, defending OEC champion Cypress was undefeated through two conference matches with narrow victories over Irvine Valley and Orange Coast colleges in their first two events.  The Chargers (10-0) were counting on a repeat of last year's title after winning the 2019 men's golf title for the first time in 43 years.  That came on the heels of winning the 2018 CCCAA state championship for the first time in school history.
   
The OEC doubled in size this season and was split into two, five-team divisions.  Cypress sat atop the Coastal Division, followed by longtime OEC members Irvine Valley (7-3), Orange Coast (6-4), Riverside (5-5), Saddleback (2-8), and OEC newcomer El Camino College (0-10).  The Inland Division saw Palomar College (5-0) with a narrow lead over a Mt. San Antonio team (4-1) which has been hosted into the Orange Empire Conference for the past several years.  College of the Desert (3-2), Mt. San Jacinto (2-3), Cuyamaca (1-4) and Victor Valley (0-5) were the other college teams giving chase.
    
Sophomore Panos Pantazopoulos of Cypress had a two stroke lead over teammate Luke Bartram in the individual standings of the Coastal Division while Connor O'Brien of Irvine Valley was four strokes behind the leader and Saddleback sophomore Chase Bosanko was only five strokes off the pace. The Coastal Division had completed two of the seven scheduled conference matches.
    
The individual results of the Inland Division only included one conference match as that division started a week later.  Kyle Hazlett of Palomar and John Kim of College of the Desert were tied for individual medalist honors at three under par while Brandon Michaels of Palomar was just one stroke off the pace and Jordan Clark of College of the Desert was two strokes away from the leaders.  Ben Sander of Mt. San Antonio and Andrew Acosta of Victor Valley shot even par and were three strokes behind Hazlett and Kim.
    
It was a promising start to the 2020 season for the OEC golfers after a strong finish on the 2019 campaign which saw Cypress place third at the 2019 CCCAA state championship and Mt. San Antonio place sixth.  Palomar and Orange Coast colleges both qualified for the post-season last year, as well.
     
The 2021 men's golf season is scheduled to begin on Friday, January 22.