Will Cross chips out from a grove of trees along the 15th fairway Tuesday morning at the CCS Boys Regional Golf Championship at Rancho Canada Golf Club in Carmel Valley.
San Benito's Nathan Winn chips onto the 9th green Tuesday morning at the CCS regional championship in Carmel Valley. Both Winn and Will Cross have advanced to the section tournament next week.
San Benito's Joey Amaral and Marcus Synegal stood in the courtyard of Carmel Valley's Rancho Canada Golf Club punching numbers into their cell phones.
They weren't calling anyone at that moment, just tabulating and calculating Tuesday's scores at the Central Coast Section Boys Regional Golf Championships.
The scores displayed on the big board were far too close to accurately estimate at first glance which team or individual figured into the cut - who made it and who didn't.
It was that close.
The Haybalers, made up of six players who will all return next season, fell painstakingly close, however - two strokes, to be exact - and finished in fifth place.
With only the top four teams from day one advancing to next week's CCS Boys Golf Championships, San Benito's fifth-place standing was dissatisfying, but certainly not the end of the line.
"It's disappointing," coach Bruce Vierra said. "But they made it this far, which is good.
"But that's golf. It's just the way it goes. It's usually what it comes down to."
Recording a team score of 397, San Benito placed behind fourth-place St. Francis, which compiled a 395. Menlo-Atherton earned the top spot with a 385, while Mountain View (389) and Carmel (394) took second and third place, respectively.
As a consolation, the top eight individual scores not on those four qualifying teams advance to the CCS championships as well, and San Benito freshmen Nathan Winn and Will Cross punched their ticket to next week's final.
Cross' 73 (35-38) led the 'Balers Tuesday, while Winn followed with a 74 (36-38) on the par 71 West Course at Rancho Canada.
"I thought I could have played a lot better. I played well, but I just could have played better," said Cross, who added that he was not distracted by the higher level of competition in the CCS tournament. "I really didn't pay attention to any other guy. I just played my game.
"Going into it, I just figured I'd work on my individual score. If you do good individually, you can make it to NorCals as an individual or help your team."
Winn said he had difficulty on the front nine, where he believed the yardages to the pin were shorter than they were, while the team noted the difficult greens, which grew more trampled as the day progressed with the heavy traffic of golfers.
"The scores are going to be high because they had the pins tucked pretty good today," Vierra said.
For the 'Balers, Marcus Synegal's 82 was good enough to place him third for San Benito, Derell Aton and Joey Amaral each carded an 84, and Justin Palmquist finished 18 holes with an 85.
Mountain View's Adam Ichikawa medaled the round with a 2-under 69.
Synegal was disappointed with his first 13 holes, where he was 11-over, but he finished the last remaining five holes with par. "I felt that I finished strong but I thought I should have been able to play the first 13 holes a lot better," he said.
The front nine was also a struggle for Aton, who double-bogeyed the first two holes, then shot a quad on the par-3 third hole.
"I was just trying to break 90," said Aton, who ended up finishing six strokes better than a 90. "But everything just came together … It turned out to be a better day than I thought it would be."
While Cross and Winn will compete in the section championships next Tuesday at the Rancho Canada Golf Club, the youthful 'Balers will return next season six experienced players strong.
"Next year, we know that we can get this far," Synegal said. "Next year, we're gonna want it even more and we'll come back and do even better."
CCS Boys Regional Golf Championships
Menlo-Atherton 385
Mountain View 389
Carmel 394
St. Francis 395
San Benito 397
St. Ignatius 398
Serra 400
Carlmont 412
Leland 417
Aptos 419
Seaside 442
San Benito
Will Cross 73
Nathan Winn 74
Marcus Synegal 82
Derell Aton 84
Joey Amaral 84
Justin Palmquist 85
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
Although the Hollister Free Lance does not have any obligation to monitor this board, the Hollister Free Lance reserves the right at all times to check this board and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to the Hollister Free Lance in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. The Hollister Free Lance also reserves the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions. All threats to systems or site infrastructure shall be assumed genuine in nature and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Submission of any comments will be considered permission to use online or in print.
