SUNSET REGION: Scoring higher than expected as rain, wind plague opening day of meet

On a day when the winds howled and rain continuously threatened, Shadow Ridge’s Ben Davis was just hoping to keep moving.

The Mustangs top golfer did that — and kept himself near the top of the leaderboard.

Davis carded a 7-over-par 79 to sit tied for second after the first day of the Sunset Region meet at Siena. Pahrump Valley’s Elliott Owens is first with a 77.

Desert Oasis’ Soungjae Baek and Jay Singharath also shot 79.

Errek McClellan, Dillon Dudley, Brandon Bauden and Cody Johnson each shot 84 to help Palo Verde lead the team scoring with 423 strokes, followed by Faith Lutheran (437) and Centennial (442).

Owens had three birdies to help offset four bogeys and a double-bogey during a front-nine 39, then settled down on the back nine to finish atop the leaderboard at the midway point.

“I just kept looking forward to the next hole,” Davis said. “If I got a bogey, I just blew it off and walked to the next hole.”

An early thunderstorm slowed play to a crawl over three holes, while the wind sent scores higher than many expected.

But Davis said the conditions mostly affected him on the front nine, when he shot 41 before rebounding with a 38 on the back.

“It was only really bad at the beginning,” he added. “After the rain, it was how I expected it to be.”

Davis’ only birdie of the day came on the par-4 second hole — his first of the shotgun-start event.

His breakthrough came with a par at No. 9, which he called “the hardest hole of the course.”

After a tee shot to the middle of the fairway, Davis hit a gap wedge within 10 feet of the hole and two-putted for par. On each of his practice rounds, he was forced to take a double-bogey or worse on the ninth.

Alec Sailer paced Centennial with an 85, and teammate Ben Newman added an 86.

Braden Bennett and Sam Done each carded 83 for Faith Lutheran, which got an 87 from Chad Kaercher.

Two-time defending Sunset champion Zane Thomas of Arbor View shot 80. Thomas was only 3-over with three holes to go, but misfired with a 3-over 7 on the 18th hole en route to fifth place.

Bonanza’s Minsoo Kim (82) and Alex Jordan (85) also made the cut after the first day.

Pahrump Valley’s Dorian Patel shot 84, and Ryan Hammar added an 85 for the Trojans, who sent all three region qualifiers to the second day of competition after missing out on qualifying as a team.

The top three teams and top 10 individuals not on qualifying team advanced to the second round, Wednesday at Mountain Falls in Pahrump.

 

Palo Verde           423
Faith Lutheran     437
Centennial           442
Desert Oasis       453
Arbor View          468
Bishop Gorman   472

Elliott Owens, Pah        77
Soungjae Baek, DO     79
Jay Singharath, DO     79
Ben Davis, SR             79
Zane Thomas, AV        80
Minsoo Kim, Bon         82
Braden Bennett, FL     83
Sam Done, FL             83
Dillon Dudley, Palo      84
Errek McClellan, Palo  84
Brandon Bauden, Palo 84
Cody Johnson, Palo     84
Dorian Patel, Pah         84
Fred Kim, SVis             84
Alex Sailer, Cen           85
Alex Jordan, Bon         85
Ryan Hammar, Pah     85
Dylan Garrett, Gor       86
Ben Newman, Cen      86
Niko Gonnella, DO      86