The Hollister High boys golf team was left with a
”
What if?
”
after all the scores were in at the 36-team Stevenson
Invitational in Atwater Monday.
The Hollister High boys golf team was left with a “What if?” after all the scores were in at the 36-team Stevenson Invitational in Atwater Monday.
The Balers shot a team total of 332, which placed them just outside the top 10. But it could have been better.
No. 1 player Ian Hudson battled the flu and shot an uncharacteristic 92. Baler head coach Mitch Thomas inadvertently brought six players for the five-player format.
“That left us with one extra,” said Thomas. “I hadn’t gotten all the paperwork yet so I didn’t know.”
The Balers flipped to see who wouldn’t play and it was Matt Lopez. Lopez had broken his driver the day before which made his not playing not too out of line. That was until Lopez shot an 82, a fine score on what Thomas dubbed “a hard course to make a good score.”
John Dempsey was top Baler with a 78, while Chris Zubiaga had an 80. Zach Gragen had an 82. Matt Vigilante shot a 92, meaning on of the 92s was tossed out.
“If we had Lopez’s score and if Ian wasn’t sick, we might have been right in there,” said Thomas. “Oh, well. It was good experience for our boys to play there. The length of the course made it tough and the greens were super fast. And then there’s the hay if you hit it out of bounds. There were a lot of lost balls out there (today).”
Turlock won the team title with a 305. Bishop O’Dowd was 10th at 328 if one wants to gauge where the Balers would be had things been different. The par-72 wasn’t too hard to master by two individuals – Kyle Thomas of Turlock and Eric Flores of Nevada Union, both of whom carded 72’s.
“That’s some great shooting,” said Thomas. “To shoot par on that course – wow!”
The Balers are at the Monterey Bay Invitational at Rancho Canada East at 8:30 a.m.
