It's a high five for Carson golf

RENO - Carson High continued its merry ride through the rest of the Sierra League boys golf teams.

Kevin Goles shot a 5-over-par 77 to earn medalist honors and lead the Senators to their fifth straight tournament win of the season Tuesday afternoon at Rosewood Lakes.

The Senators finished with a 412, which was 20 shots better than South Tahoe. Reno was third at 436, followed by Wooster 451, Douglas 455, Damonte Ranch 461, North Valleys 538 and Hug 632.

Zach Rispin shot 84, Isaac Holt 83, John Singer 84, Sam Straub 84 and Levi Taylor a non-scoring 86.

Goles beat Douglas freshman Thomas Wicker by two shots and Wooster's Bobby McCracken by four. Those three were the only players to shoot 81 or lower in the 47-player field.

Carson has a chance to sweep the Sierra League tournaments for the second straight year at next week's event at Eagle Valley in Carson City.

"It (today's score) was OK," Carson coach Rod Butler said. "I expected Zach and Isaac to go a little lower, something in the high 70s. The greens were bumpy and the kids were having trouble putting. This course intimidates because of the wetlands on both sides with no place to bail out.

"Our focus in the next two weeks is having a good zone tournament. Obviously we want to win the league tournaments. We have to start stepping up our practices so we can be ready for zone."

Butler wants to avoid a meltdown that happened at zone last year when the Senators, after winning all six league tournaments, failed to qualify for state as a team.

Both Rispin and Goles want to go undefeated in league.

"We could use it as a confidence thing," said Rispin. "If we lose a tournament, it would be bad for our confidence."

"It would definitely be a confidence booster," Goles said. "It could give us a false sense of confidence because we aren't as good as the other league. If we play well at zone, we definitely have a good chance to make it (to state)."

With Goles plugging away and consistently shooting in the 70s, that helps out immensely.

Goles had just one birdie, and believe it or not, that was on the 367-yard first hole when he drained a 15-footer en route to a 3-over-par 39

"I couldn't make any par putts on the front nine," said Goles. "It was the same way last week. I think I had 38 putts, and that was half my score. I didn't hit the ball as well as I know I can, but I was still hanging in there; still in the 70s. I hit a lot of quality chips. That's my strength, my short game."

After that birdie on No. 1, Goles gave it back with a three-putt bogey on No. 2, a 560-yard par-5. He put his approach shot to the green above the hole, 15 feet away. He didn't hit the first putt hard enough, and ran the second one past the hole.

Goles slipped to 2-over par with a bogey on No. 3 when he overshot the green on his second shot, and on the 210-yard par-3 fourth when he missed a 5-foot par putt. He finished strong on the front, parring four of the last five holes.

On the back nine, Goles parred five of his last six holes.

"The greens were a lot faster and truer on the back nine," Goles said.

Rispin was unhappy with his putting effort. It took him 33 putts to get around, and that's at least three more than he usually has.

"I try to stay under 30," Rispin said. "They were really bumpy, and I always seemed to be in the middle of the bad part of the green."

Rispin had a 7-over-par 43 on the front side, including a quadruple 7 on the par-3 210-yard fourth hole. He hit a shot into the weeds, took a drop, chunked two straight shots and then three-putted.

On No. 9, he missed a 3-footer for par.

Rispin recorded his only birdie of the day on No. 16, a 540-yard par-5. He hit driver, 2-iron and lob wedge to reach the putting surface and then knocked in a 5-foot putt.

Holt, meanwhile, took a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 second hole en route to a 44 on the front side.

He settled down immensely on the back nine, and was able to hit his driver well enough off the tee to stay out of trouble.

After an easy two-putt par on No.10, he had a three-putt from 15 feet for a bogey on No. 11. On No. 12, he recorded another two-putt par, and then recorded another par at No. 13 thanks to a nice putt from just off the green to within 2 feet.

Holt had a good birdie opportunity for a birdie on No. 14, but pushed his birdie putt a bit and settled for another par. A poor drive cost him a par on No. 15, as he ran his par putt two feet past the cup.

On No. 16, Holt pulled a birdie putt inches to the left, settling for an easy two-putt par. He two-putted for a par on the par-3 160-yard 17th, but a bad fairway shot forced him to settle for a bogey on No. 18.

"I should have made more birdie putts, " said Holt, who had four three-putt greens. "I forgot about the front nine and went through my routine. I took more time around the greens."