High winds, low scores carry Scotts Christian to golf title

Art Preuss

Strong winds offered just one more obstacle to unseating defending champion Scottsdale Christian Academy in the 1A/2A state golf championships.

Desert Christian HS (Tucson), in second place after Monday’s round, had to deal with an eight-stroke lead by SCA going into yesterday’s final round.  Desert Christian cut four strokes off the lead, but it wasn’t quite enough, as SCA left the Aguila Golf Course in Laveen with its fourth straight championship.

The Scottsdale Christian team navigated the 6,403-yard course with relative ease, considering the blustery conditions, carding rounds of 73, 75, 77, and 79.

The winds were even worse up in the high country of Snowflake, where Snowflake HS swung through gusts of up to 50-60 mph to win the 3A state title.

The Lobos put the rest of the field in their rear-view mirror right off the first tee Monday, piling up a 33-stroke lead over second-place Payson HS and then wrapping up the title in the final round by extending the lead even further.

Snowflake carded a 656 total for the two rounds, followed by Payson in second place (706), and Snowflake in third (753).

Kyle Jones led the Snowflake assault with a score of 70 on Monday to take the lead over the field, and then carded a 79 on Tuesday to claim the individual state championship with a 149 total.  Jones’ teammate, Parker McDonald, took second-place honors with 163, just nosing out Tyler Apps of Payson HS, who came in at 164.

In 1A/2A, Desert Christian settled for runner-up this year by shooting 631, just behind Scottsdale Christian’s 627.  Valley Christian HS wrapped up third by carding a 641 total.

The individual title went to Ian Patterson from Immaculate Heart HS in Tucson, finally getting the senior over the hump after two years of playing the runner-up role.  He finished with a 142 total (71, 71).

Patterson had to overcome Caston Roberts from Gilbert Christian HS, who held a one-stroke lead after Monday’s play.  But, as it turned out, Roberts’ game went south on the fourth hole, where he had a quadruple bogey and finished with a two-day total of 143 — one agonizing stroke from the title.

And just two strokes behind Roberts was Konstantin von Bringe from Phoenix Country Day who finished third with 145 total.