For the 30th consecutive year, the Pahrump Valley Invitational helped kick off the boys high school golf season. For the first time, there were team rounds under par.
Coronado High School shaved 24 strokes off of its first-day score to post 9-under-par 279 Friday for a two-day total of 582 and an 11-shot victory over Bellarmine College Prep of San Jose, California.
Coronado’s total surpassed the tournament scoring record by 4 strokes. Bellarmine also broke par as a team, combining for a 2-under 286 on Friday.
Arbor View’s Hazen Newman was the only golfer under par both days, winning the individual title with a 3-under 141, 4 shots ahead of a four-way tie for second place. There were 13 individual rounds under par, including eight Friday. Joey Dotta of Coronado had the low round of the event with a 4-under 68 on Friday after shooting 83 on Thursday.
Pahrump Valley’s boys finished 13th overall at 695, 139 over par.
“I think we did some things OK,” Pahrump Valley coach Bob Hopkins said. “Just from out watching them, Coach (Steve) Nygaard and I have surmised we need to work on our short game. If you chip and putt well, you score well.”
Kasey Dilger led the Trojans, shooting 169 on rounds of 89 and 80.
“I played pretty good,” Dilger said Friday. “I only got one birdie, but overall pretty good. Yesterday, I couldn’t hit anything good. Today, I could putt better and chip better. My irons were a little bit better.”
Close behind was Koby Lindberg with his 84-87-171.
“I did all right, a couple of mishits here and there,” Lindberg said. “A little bit worse than yesterday. My overall accuracy wasn’t nearly as good.”
Trevyn Wombaker wasn’t pleased with his performance, which was virtually identical from Thursday to Friday, shooting 91 both days.
“I didn’t shoot as well as I wanted to,” Wombaker said. “I had some difficult holes, some bad putts, bad chips, but ended up scoring not too bad. Hit some good balls, some bad balls, ended up playing not very well, but it was a fun time.”
Rounding out the scoring for the Trojans was Ian Kingsley, who shot rounds of 97 and 96 for 193. Garrett Ward also competed for Pahrump Valley, posting rounds of 113 and 104.
“Ian obviously didn’t play as well as he’s capable, and I think Trevyn’s a lot better than 91,” Hopkins said. “We hoped they would all be shooting what Kasey did today. … We’re hoping to be 85 and lower all the time.”
His players echoed that sentiment.
“It’s a good first meet,” Lindberg said. “Hoping to definitely improve during the season. If we put in a lot of work, I think we can probably give them some competition this year.”
“I should be pretty good later in the season,” Wombaker added. “At least I hope.”