St. Mike’s Padilla at No. 2 ahead of final day
ALBUQUERQUE — First place never felt so … meh.
Despite reaching the clubhouse with a first-round 78 that left him in a threeway tie for the lead in the Class 1A-4A State Golf Tournament, Taos junior Josh Fambro was not in a boastful mood.
“It’s a little bittersweet because I could have played so much better,” he said.
One-under par through his first seven holes, Fambro posted three double bogeys, two bogeys and one birdie in his final 11 holes. He hit just one green in regulation in his back nine.
Still, there he was, in a logjam along with Jacob Lucero of Hope Christian and Alexander Moores of Cottonwood Classical as the only players on the south side of 80 during Monday’s opening round at The Canyon Club.
Played in perfect conditions that started under clear skies and ended with soft cloud cover and no wind, the round posed a few stiff challenges in terms of course play.
“The fairways were kind of soft and this time of year the ball doesn’t go as far off the tee,” said St. Michael’s girls player Carisa Padilla, the defending state champ who finds herself a distant second entering Tuesday’s final round. “The greens were really fast and the chip shots were tough because the area around the greens was fast, too. The fairways, though, they didn’t give you a lot of bounce.”
Padilla didn’t have a single birdie and was 10-over on the back nine, but her 15-over 87 left her alone in second place, seven shots behind leader Alexandra Michelena of Ruidoso. Padilla ended her round by overshooting the 18th green
with her ball hitting a metal utility box in the parking lot. The one-stroke drop gave her a double to close the round.
All is not lost, however, neither for Padilla nor the defending champion Lady Horsemen. They enter Tuesday’s last round within 10 strokes of leader Hope Christian and one shot back of Socorro.
“We definitely feel good about [Tuesday],” said Miquela Martinez after her 19-over 91 left her in sole possession of fourth place to leave two St. Michael’s golfers in the top four. “We like this course and we’ve played here a couple of times before, so if we just avoid mistakes and hit a few putts we know we’ll be right there.”
The boys’ standings have Hope tied with Portales for first with Las Vegas Robertson lurking just five shots behind for third. It sets up an interesting three-way sprint to the finish for a trio of teams that will all be paired together starting with Tuesday’s 7:50 a.m. tee times for the first group.
Robertson’s Noah Gonzales is just three strokes off the lead. In a three-way tie for fifth, his opening round 81 was well within range of the front three, and just three ahead of the long golfer from St. Michael’s, Cameron Gonzales.
One of the first groups onto the course of the final round will feature Fambro and Moores. Getting off early, Fambro said, can be something he can use to his advantage as the tournament comes to a close.
“I’ll kind of keep one eye on the scores, for sure, but I kind of like to get out there and get going and maybe put some pressure on everyone else,” he said. “I like knowing I have some control over that.”
TOURNAMENT NOTES
The Taos girls struggled Monday, hitting the clubhouse with a cumulative team total of 156-over 444. That leaves them in last place in the seven-team event. Taylor Tomashot led the way with an opening round 95 (23-over). … The 6A tournament is being played in Farmington while the 5A event is in Hobbs. After one round, the Los Alamos boys hold a comfortable 11-stroke lead in the 5A team category while Hilltopper Henry Poston fired an opening round 72 (even) to claim sole possession of second place, one shot back of leader Aiden Thomas of St. Pius.
Los Alamos has four players in the top 20 overall, including Sean Rau at 6-over 78 in ninth place.
The Los Alamos girls were a distant fifth after one round, 60 shots behind leader St. Pius.