The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate golf team took third at Monday’s Scorpion Invitational at the Pinon Hills Golf Course in Farmington, N.M.
“It was really nice,” coach Mark Faber said. “Very nice weather, a very nice golf course, but probably the hardest golf course they’ll play all year.”
Faber noted that, while the difficulty of the course showed a little bit in the Pirates’ scores, “Nobody played bad. It’s just a harder golf course; it’s different. I feel good about what they did.”
Durango took first out of six teams with a score of 319, followed by Farmington in second with a score of 346 and the Pirates in third with a 347.
“That was close. I thought we might pull it out, but we didn’t,” the coach said.
He also noted that both Durango and Farmington are bigger schools, and he’s OK with being third in a group like that.
Johnathon Smith took first out of 44 golfers with a 74 on the par-72 course, with that effort including an eagle, a birdie and par on 11 holes.
“Johnathon played well, but actually could have been a bit better,” Faber said, explaining he “made a couple mistakes he doesn’t usually make.”
But, Faber noted, Smith played well and won the tournament, “so that’s always fun. ... That part was nice.”
Chatwin Pickering finished 15th with a 90, with his effort including shooting par on eight holes.
Tyler Dimond followed in 16th with a 91.
His effort included shooting par on six holes.
Max Brown took 18th with a 92, with Brown logging a birdie on one hole and par on three holes.
Faber noted Brown played one of his top rounds this year.
“He played well for that golf course,” he said.
Logan Lamoreaux notched 26th with a 97.
Lamoreaux notched one birdie and shot par on one hole.
Maximus Ibram finished 29th with a 98, shooting par on three holes.
“Nobody played great, but they played OK,” Faber said. “Like I said, it’s a good test, it really is.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the Pirates took part in the Alamosa Invite #2.
Results of that tournament were not available by press time Wednesday and will appear in the Sept. 25 issue of The SUN.
On Monday, Sept. 22, the Pirates will compete at the 12th annual Soria Invitational at Riverview Golf Course in Kirtland, N.M.
Faber indicated the tournament will be similar to the one at Pinon Hills.
“We’re just lookin’ for them to score a little better, hopefully get them in that top group so we can get some of them to state,” Faber said.
The coach added Riverview is an interesting golf course, with two very different nines.
The front nine, he explained, is an older layout, while the back nine is a lot like Pinon Hills.
“It’ll be an interesting day,” he said.
Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Pirates will head to the Intermountain League (IML) Panther Invite at Conquistador Golf Course in Cortez.
Faber noted the Pirates haven’t gotten to play an IML tournament in the last few years and haven’t been able to have any all-conference players or players of the year, adding it’ll be nice to give the players a chance to earn some rewards there.
The tournament is also the Pirates’ final meet of the season that will count toward the state qualification.
randi@pagosasun.com
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