Clay Seeber has been one of the best all-around athletes in Newport-Mesa, growing up playing football, baseball, basketball, soccer and any other youth sport around town you can think of.
I have watched him since he was five, playing Little League T-ball, and then onto the basketball courts and flag football fields. In soccer, adults in social scenes would talk about Seeber’s stunning sideways shots and bicycle kicks. His father, Dave, said the Los Angeles Galaxy once called to recruit his kid for a development program. He was always the fastest player on the field or court. I witnessed more than one of his football kickoff returns for a touchdown, and it always hurts when it goes against you.
In hoops, he would score from anywhere on the floor, play insanely tough defense and hustle relentlessly, while getting every loose ball and harassing every opponent with the ball.
In baseball, he homered as often as the best of them and could play every position well on the diamond, including pitcher, shortstop and catcher. His instincts, intensity and hard-nosed approach are great gifts for an athlete and a joy to watch from the stands, sideline or dugout, even if you’re playing against him. No matter what sport, we had no answer for him.
Then one September day in 2011, he picked up some golf clubs. A club pro at Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine saw his swing and fell in love. He wanted to coach Seeber, and it was off to new beginnings. Seeber dropped every sport in sight and began to concentrate on golf.
Now, he’s one of the top junior players in the world.
Seeber, 12, has been heating up this summer on the 2013 Southern California PGA Junior Tour, shooting under par in six of his last seven rounds on the tour, and then on Aug. 8, he won the Costa Mesa Junior Championship. Seeber finished No. 1 in his age group (graduate year 2019) on the Mesa Linda Course at Costa Mesa Country Club.
Earlier this summer, Seeber tied for 14th at the Junior World Golf Championships, earned a spot on the prestigious Toyota Cup team for players 12-18 (he’s the youngest on the team), and placed third in the Kikkor Golf Open Junior Olympics, a worldwide event, with a 4-under-par 66 at Brookside in Pasadena. He is ranked 14th in the world in his age group and in the top 1,500 for all the thousands of junior players in the world between 12 and 18.
On his home course, Oak Creek, where Seeber is coached by Tiger Woods’ former coach, PGA Master Professional Alan Ochiai, he came within four shots of the course record when he posted two rounds of 67 for an 8-under finish in the Cleveland Golf/Srixon Championship. Seeber was also the youngest player this year to qualify for the California State Junior Amateur Championship for boys 12-17.
Seeber, a Balboa Island resident, also won the first round of the Junior Drive, Chip and Putt Contest at Morongo Golf Club, where the winner earns an automatic berth into the 2014 Masters at Augusta, Ga. The final round of the contest is Aug. 17.
“He’s just on a roll. It’s been unbelievable,” Dave Seeber said of his son’s hot streak. “It’s been pretty cool to watch.”
Including his winning effort at Costa Mesa, Seeber has shot under par in four of his last five rounds. Looks like he’s finally found his sport. In fact, his father cannot drag him away from the practice range at Oak Creek, even when it’s raining. “I’ll be sitting in the car when it’s raining, and he’ll be out there hitting balls, because he says he needs to learn how to play in the rain,” his father said.
Although he’s 5-foot-5 and only 100 pounds, Clay Seeber is hitting the ball off the tee between 260 and 280 yards, a Tigeresque distance for 12-year-olds.
In addition to the final round of the Junior Drive, Chip and Putt Contest at Morongo, Seeber will continue to enjoy a busy summer golf schedule before attending Corona del Mar Middle School in September as a 7th grader.
Corona del Mar High boys golf coach Mike Starkweather is probably counting the days until Seeber arrives as a freshman in two years.
Contact the writer: dunnwriter@yahoo.com
