BY RAMONA SHELBURNE, Staff Writer

MURRIETA - They haven’t done any team bonding exercises yet, but future USC golfers Rory Hie and Jamie Lovemark sure acted like teammates at the CIF/SCGA championship Thursday afternoon at the SCGA Members Course in Murrieta.

Hie and Lovemark each shot 6-under 66s on a day when only 17 of the 124 players were able to break par. Hie, a senior at Cerritos High, beat Lovemark in a one-hole playoff to capture medalist honors. Hie also shot a 66 last week to win the Southern Section individual title at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs.

The top six finishers not on one of the top three teams advance to the CIF State Championship in Santa Maria on Monday. None of the 17 local players competing Thursday advanced.

“It’s weird. You want to beat him, but you don’t want to beat him because he’s going to be your teammate,” said Lovemark, a senior at Torrey Pines High near San Diego.

Hie, Lovemark, Evan Emerick (Carlsbad, -3), James Erkenbeck (Torrey Pines, -3), Rickie Fowler (Murrieta Valley, -3), Bryan Hogan (Stockdale, -2), Kevin Sepulveda (Paso Robles, -2) and Tom Whitney (La Quinta, -2) qualified for the state championship.