Carson golf teams in third and fifth

Carson High will have to shoot a tremendous round today to defend its Carson Invitational golf championship.

Carson coach Rod Butler entered two squads in the event, and mixed and matched his 11 available players. Despite not having Kevin Goles available to play, both Carson squads played well, but find themselves in third and fifth, respectively, entering this morning's (8:30 a.m.) final round at Silver Oak.

Nevada Union, with four players shooting under 80, shot a 395 which is an excellent score considering the windy conditions at Eagle Valley West Wednesday afternoon. Spanish Springs' A squad is a stroke behind at 396, and Carson's B squad, led by Jordan Rogers' 79, is third at 412. South Tahoe is fourth at 414 and Carson's A squad, led by Zach Rispin's 77, is fifth at 417.

The first-day medalist was Spanish Springs' Scott Kelly with a level-par 72, followed by Sonora's Kevin Rei with a 3-over-par 75. Spanish Springs' Robert Perca and Nevada Union's Spencer Biersdorf both shot 76s.

The Carson B squad, made up mostly of sophomores had a solid day. Rogers tied his career-low for 18 holes with a 79. Jon Singer, playing just his second tournament of the season after stomach surgey, finished with an 80. Sam Staub 83, Spencer Brinson 84 and Ryan Livermore 86 rounded out the line-up.

Rogers birdied the par-4 sixth when he hit a 5-iron into the green and drained a long 30-footer. His second birdie came on the par-5 15th when he lofted a wedge to about 20 feet and sank the ensuing putt.

He did double-bogey two holes, but otherwise played a solid round.

"It was windy playing conditions today," Rogers said. "My short game was pretty good, especially my putting."

Singer's only birdie came on the par-3 fourth when he chipped in from just off the green. He saved par on No. 11 with another nice chip.

Rispin still wasn't pleased with his putting, but seemed to do a better job from tee to green than he did Tuesday at Rosewood Lakes.

"I missed a lot of short ones today," Rispin said. "Overall, it worked out. It (the round) could have been better."

Rispin, who started on No. 2 in the shotgun start, opened with a two-putt par. On the par-5 third, Rispin put his third shot 5 feet from the hole and drained the ensuing putt. A bad tee shot cost him a par on the 308-yard par-4 fourth, dropping him back to level par.

Over the next five holes, Rispin recorded three pars, a bogey and a birdie. The birdie came on the ninth hole when he hit a lob wedge to 12 feet and drained the putt. He saved pars on both par-3s in that stretch with nice approach shots after missing the green off the tee.

Rispin recorded his third birdie of the day on the par-5 15th when he reached the green with a 9-iron on the 503-yard hole. He two-putted for birdie from 30 feet.

He had a four-hole stretch where he had four straight bogeys (Nos. 11 through 14). After the aforementioned birdie, he finished par-par-bogey.

Isaac Holt finished with an 80, Levi Taylor 85, Zack Bergstrom 87 and Steve Hein 88 for the Carson A squad.

Kelly said he and his Spanish Springs teammates wanted to beat Carson badly. They were looking at the tournament as a prelude to the zone tournament. That ws made easier by the absence of Goles, and the fact that Carson switched around its lineup.

Kelly, who has been playing golf for just three years, had previously shot a 2-under 70 at Eagle Valley East.

"I played pretty well from fairways to greens," said Kelly, who recorded birdies on Nos. 3, 4 and 15 when he sank putts of 1, 3 and 5 feet, respectively.

Kelly was the only player in the field to shoot par or better.

Rei sank birdie putts of 2 and 3 feet, respectively on Nos. 4 and 8.

The Sonora junior said he would use one club longer and try to hit knockdown shots to combat the wind, which whipped pretty good at times.