CHS boys golf team takes tough state tournament in stride

By Sun Advocate

After completing one of their season goals of winning the Region 12 title, the Carbon High boys golf team headed up to Mountain Dell golf course with high hopes of making their mark among the best at the 3A State Tournament.
Instead a razor-thin margin of three strokes kept the Dinos from making the cut to continue on day two as they were given an early ticket home last Wednesday.
“That’s the game of golf for you,” said CHS head coach Tom King in an interview Monday morning.
The Dinos finished in 11th place as a team, missing the 10 team cut after the first day.
King said the Dinos shot a 313 in practice the day before the tournament, which would have put them in the top five. Unfortunately for the Dinos, that play didn’t carry over as they shot a team total of 341.
“The result definitely hurt,” said King. “The pressure of the state tournament may have gotten to them a little too much.”
Park City took first place for the 3A State Championship.
The weather conditions held up and didn’t play too much of a factor in the play of the team, King noted. Senior Blake Bean led the team shooting an 81. He was followed by Robbi Etzel (83), Dillen Ward (84), Dallas Anselmo (93), Wyatt Henrie (97) and Kayden Alderson (103).
King said Bean played well over his first 14 holes but went 7-over par on the last four holes and Etzel experienced a few rough spots early in his round before playing well down the stretch. If the ball bounced a little differently, then the Dinos may have been concentrating on day two of the tournament instead of missing the cut.
Despite the tough finish at state, King said the team still accomplished a goal of a Region 12 title and qualifying for the tournament.
“We met our goals that we set going into the season,” he said. “This was an extremely fun and smart group of kids that all have bright futures ahead of them.”
King said an event will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Carbon Country Club. The movie “The Short Game” will be shown and anyone interested in learning about the game of golf is invited to come and watch.