Austen Ancell shot 2-under-par 70 to lead Pahrump Valley to victory at the Las Vegas Golf Club for a Class 3A Sunset League match on April 4.
In that match, the Trojans as a team shot a 434. Western was second at 562. Western’s Jared Smith shot an 82 to tie with Marcus Mullins of Mojave. The Trojans’ Craig Moore came in fourth with an 87, followed by teammate Koby Lindberg with a 90.
The 434 for Pahrump Valley was their best score this season.
“Pretty much, and we broke 450,” Trojans top golfer, senior Austen Ancell said. “We have been wanting to do that because the qualifying score for the regionals is 450. Although we should be the league champs and won’t need a qualifying score, we still wanted to shoot that to say we could.”
Ancell said one of the goals for him this year has been to improve his mental focus during a match.
“So far so good,” he said. “I have also been trying to stay away from big numbers, which means keeping the number of putts to under three and hitting the greens.”
As far as the team and how it is doing, Ancell believes the team as a whole is also trying to stay away from the big numbers.
“As a whole, our coach wants us to concentrate on the short game,” Ancell said.
The Trojans faced Boulder City on Thursday, which was past deadline, and was a test for the team to see if they could keep away from the big numbers. Trojans coach Bob Hopkins feels Boulder City is the team to beat at regionals.
“It will be a test, but Craig Moore will not be there and he is one of our better golfers,” Ancell said.
Pahrump’s next match will be April 12-13 at the River Valley Invitational at the Mojave Golf Resort in Laughlin.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com