Carson golfers finish 5th

RENO - Arrowcreek Country Club is a tough layout no matter what tees you are playing, and the Carson High's girls golf team found that out firsthand Wednesday afternoon.

After finishing in the top three in the first two Sierra League tournaments, Carson struggled to a fifth-place finish with a 415. Bishop Manogue won with a 336, followed by Galena 391, South Tahoe 409 and Damonte Ranch 414.

"It hurt that Lindsay (Burroughs) didn't post a score," coach Terry Gingell said. "Whitney (Nash) and Elayna (Shine) got off to slow starts and after that they were fine."

Burroughs twisted her ankle on the front nine and was unable to finish her round.

Carson's best score was turned in by Megan Justice, the Senators' No. 6 player. Justice shot a career-best 99 on the 5,025-yard par-72 layout, which included a birdie on the 15th hole, a 138-yard par-3 as well as pars at No. 2, a 101-yard par-3 and No. 8, a 125-yard par-3. Her previous best was a 107 at Thunder Canyon.

"I did a good job chipping and putting," Justice said. "I only had one three-putt."

"It was a good score for Megan," Gingell said. "She has a lot of talent and she's improving. I'm really proud of her."

Nash was disappointed with her round. She admitted this was probably the toughest of the three courses thus far, but she also pointed out that she shot 94 at Arrowcreek previously.

Nash got off to a tough start with a 10 on her first hole of the day, the 296-yard par-4 10th.

The left-handed Nash drove the ball into a hazard, and twice tried to play it out before taking an unplayable lie and a penalty shot.

"I should have done that (penalty stroke the first time)," Nash said. "After taking the penalty shot, I hit the next one on the green. I could have had a bogey."

Nash recorded her only birdie on the day at the 95-yard par-3 12th. She stuck her tee shot about 4 feet from the hole. She struggled the remaining six holes and finished with a 55.

After a bogey at the par-4 1st and a double-bogey at the par-3 2nd, Nash started to turn things around.

On No. 3, a 428-yard par-5, she was short of the green after three shots but managed to get up and down from 30 feet to save par. At the par-3 122-yard 5th, her tee shot landed just a few feet off the green. She chipped to 7 feet and drained the putt. At No. 6, a 404-yard par-4, she drove the ball in the middle of the fairway, but her second shot found a bunker about 15 yards short of the green. She blasted out to the back of the green and two-putted to save par.

Disaster struck on the next hole. Nash drove the ball in the trap, blasted out and then put her third shot into the greenside bunker. She left her first attempt in the bunker and then blasted out to 20-feet and three-putted for a quadruple bogey.

"I didn't hit it hard enough," Nash said of her first attempt in the greenside bunker. "I didn't hit through it."

Nash finished strong with a par on the downhill 479-yard par-5, two-putting from 10 feet.

Shine, who broke 100 last week, birdied the par-5 6th and recorded a par on the par-3 8th.

NOTES: Manogue's Alex Phillips shot a 78 despite hitting OB twice on one hole and four-putting a green. She finished strong, however, eagling the 9th hole ... Sierra League golfers return to action next Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at Edgewood Golf Club at Stateline.