SUNSET REGION: Palo Verde wins again; Mustangs’ Davis nets individual title

Palo Verde’s boys golf team wanted to attack the greens and start well on the second day of the Sunset Region meet at Mountain Falls in Pahrump.

No one emphasized that drive Wednesday more than junior Dillon Dudley.

Dudley birdied the final three holes of the front nine and shot even-par 72 to finish fourth with a 156, and the Panthers totaled 820 strokes to hold off the field and claim their fifth straight region title.

Palo Verde and second-place Faith Lutheran (851) advanced to next week’s Class 4A state meet at Hidden Valley in Reno.

“I felt right there like I was going to be able to attack the pins and go low, but I couldn’t find it,” said Dudley, who shot 34 on the front but ended with a bogey and double bogey on the back. “I had to play par golf because I couldn’t find anything else.”

Shadow Ridge freshman Ben Davis carded a two-day 151 to win the individual title, followed by Desert Oasis’ Soungjae Baek (153) and Pahrump Valley’s Dorian Patel (154).

Dudley consistently hit the fairways off the tee and used an 80-yard, sand-wedge approach to birdie No. 9 and fuel the Panthers’ charge.

“Today, we came around nine, and they shoot 189 on the front,” said Palo Verde coach Jeff Wolfram, whose team scored the low round through nine for both region meets. “But then we went on the back and didn’t play our best golf. Going into state, we’re going to have to play better on the back nine.”

 

After four golfers shot 84 on the first day at Siena, Wolfram stressed to his team not to be complacent.

“We didn’t want them to play safety golf,” Wolfram said. “We didn’t want to come out and say, 'Oh, let’s just all shoot 40 and defend.’ We didn’t want them to do that. We wanted a nice solid score after nine, and then get after it after 18. Our kids love playing this course.”

With his confidence boosted from the front, Dudley felt good about his chances to remain in contention through 18. He then relied on consistent drives into the fairway to keep him near the top of the leaderboard.

“After three straight birdies, I felt like I was going to be able to just go and shoot a 65 today,” he said. “But the back nine, I just couldn’t really find it. It turned into fairways and greens with two-putt pars.”
 

Davis carded two birdies and two bogeys on the day, relying on consistent short-iron play to buoy him to the individual title in his first year of high school golf. He regularly chipped to within 10 feet of the hole but left several two-putts on the course  in a round of 72.

 

“It was all in my irons. I sunk every iron shot within 10 feet on the back nine, but I couldn’t make a putt,” said Davis, who birdied No. 1 and No. 12. “It started to get frustrating.
“It worked, but it was frustrating.”

Pahrump’s Patel carded an 84 on Monday at Siena but cruised to a meet-low 32 on the front nine Wednesday. The junior went 5 under during a four-hole stretch on the front, including an eagle on No. 7, to rocket up the leaderboard and end with a 2-under 70.

Faith Lutheran’s Braden Bennett (157) was fifth, and two-time defending Sunset champion Zane Thomas of Arbor View tied Pahrump’s Elliott Owens for sixth at 158.

Davis, Baek, Patel, Bennett, Thomas and Owens joined the Panthers and Crusaders in qualifying for state.

x-Palo Verde          423-397–820
x-Faith Lutheran    437-414–851
Centennial             442-412–854

x-Ben Davis, SR             79-72–151
x-Soungjae Baek, DO     79-74–153
x-Dorian Patel, Pahr       84-70–154
Dillon Dudley, Palo          84-72–156
Braden Bennett, FL         83-74–157
x-Zane Thomas, AV        80-78–158
x-Elliott Owens, Pahr      77-81–158
Alex Jordan, Bon            85-75–160
Jay Singharath, DO        79-82–161
Minsoo Kim, Bon            82-80–162
Cody Johnson, Palo       84-78–162
Errek McClellan, Palo     84-81–165
Alec Sailer, Cent             85-80–165
Chad Kaercher, FL          87-78–165
Ben Newman, Cen          86-80–166
Sam Done, FL                 83-84–167
Brandon Bauman, Palo   84-83–167
Ryan Hammar, Pahr        85-83–168
Fred Kim, SVis                 84-86–170
Danny Squires, Palo        87-83–170
David Totorri, FL              90-80–170
x-state qualifier