HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE — Losing was bad enough for the Kelseyville High School golf team on Thursday at Hidden Valley Lake Golf Course, but losing during a round that took 5 ? hours to complete just made it a lot tougher to swallow.
Getting balanced scoring from up and down a deep lineup, the St. Vincent Mustangs of Petaluma pulled even in the Coastal Mountain Conference South standings with a 429-448 win over Kelseyville. St. Helena came in third with 459, Tomales was next at 486, Rincon Valley Christian had 522, and both Middletown and Calistoga were incomplete (fewer than five golfers).
Through four of eight regular-season matches, the CMC South race is a dead heat between Kelseyville and St. Vincent, both at 22-2 in the standings. They”re well ahead of third-place teams Tomales and St. Helena, both 13-11.
“St. Vincent is a really good team and we struggled a little bit today,” said Kelseyville coach John Berry, who was hoping that course familiarity would play to the Knights” advantage.
But St. Vincent”s golfers, led by Tom Mertel”s 83 on the par-72 Hidden Valley course, countered with steady play up and down their lineup. Of their six scores (teams can throw out the highest), the worst round was an 88.
Jonathan Bridges” 83 led Kelseyville but the Knights” couldn”t keep pace with other members of the St. Vincent team. Nick Schaefer finished with 85, Hipolito Perez had 87, Tyler Drake carded a 94, and Cameron Blackburn had 99.
“I”m gratified we”re in this situation,” Berry said of being tied with St. Vincent in the CMC standings at the halfway point of the regular season. “They have more depth than we do and on paper they”re the better team.
“We”re obviously disappointed we didn”t do better today, we thought we had an advantage here,” Berry added. “In a game of punch-counterpunch, we got counterpunched today.”
The day”s low individual round went to Doug Quinones of the host Middletown Mustangs. Quinones carded a 1-over-par 73, a round that featured an eagle and four birdies. St. Helena”s Peter Larson finished four shots back at 80. After 83s by Mertel and Bridges, Tomales” Zack Wenrich and Middletown”s Lisa Copeland and Blaine Ruggio carded 84s.
While the slow play was a handicap all the teams had to endure, Berry said it wasn”t the fault of the CMC South golfers, but groups of adult golfers playing in front of the high school players. They wouldn”t speed up their play or let the CMC South golfers play through, according to Berry.
“They might have even played slower (on purpose),” Berry said.
Kelseyville”s team has a busy week ahead. After competing in the Ukiah Invitational on Monday, the Knights host a CMC South match on Tuesday at Adams Springs on Cobb Mountain before hitting the road Thursday to play at Meadowood Golf Course in St. Helena.
