CIF Boys Golf Team Stripped of State Title for Rules Violation

Earlier this week the Palm Beach Aztecs forfeited the Division 1 golf team regional title they won a day earlier in Chino Hills because of a violation of CIF-Southern Section rules on team activities the day before a competition. The school self-reported the violation.

“I take full responsibility,” Palm Desert head coach Kurt Breitfuss said in a Yahoo! News report. “That’s my job, is to know the rules.”

Palm Desert won the Division 1 title with a team score of 8-over 368 at Western Hills Golf Club, two shots better than runner-up Corona del Mar. Breitfuss told Yahoo! News that his team went to the course Sunday to discuss a few holes that Breitfuss felt the team needed to play well. The team hit some shots on the course, and afterward, they went to dinner and discussed the upcoming Monday round.

The activities of the team with the coach in proximity were enough for the CIF-SS to agree that its rules had been violated.

Below is an excerpt from the CIF press release.

Palm Desert High School has self-reported a violation of CIF-SS bylaws and will forfeit the 2022 CIF Southern Section-Ford Division 1 Boys Team Golf title.

CIF-SS bylaws 504.M and 2212 state: In order to provide at least one day of respite from involvement in interscholastic athletics each week, no interscholastic games or practices of any kind are to be held on Sunday.

Page 27 of the CIF Southern Section Boys Golf Playoff Bulletin states the following: No practice or instruction from the school coach of any time (team or individual) may be conducted on Sunday. What constitutes organized practice?

Organized practice shall be interpreted as meaning the association of a coach with the team members for the purpose of learning or practicing the skills of golf.

Corona del Mar will now claim the divisional title. Servite becomes the runner-up.