SUNRISE REGION: Reigning champion leads by one shot

Taylor Montgomery stared at the sky in disbelief after missing relatively short birdie putts on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes during the opening round of the Sunrise Region golf tournament Tuesday.

 

Montgomery, the tourney’s defending champion, was stunned again at the ninth after three-putting for a bogey from inside 15 feet.

 

By the time the Foothill sophomore walked off the 14th green at Boulder City Golf Course, he was staring at the heavens again — this time with a sheepish grin. Montgomery rolled in four birdie putts on the back nine, including a 50-footer on No. 14, firing a 4-under-par 68 to take a one-shot lead over Foothill teammate Bailey Rogers heading into today’s final round.

 

“The greens were punched, so you just try to lag it up there, and if they go in, they go in,” Montgomery said. “I missed a few I should have made, too, so that’s how it goes I guess.”

 

Montgomery had birdies at the par-5 first and fifth holes before the bogey at No. 9 left him at 1 under on the front nine. The Falcons’ top player stuffed an iron shot just left of the hole at the tenth and rolled in a 15-footer on No. 11 for two more birdies.

 

He narrowly missed another makeable birdie attempt at the 12th. He rolled in the long putt on 14 for another birdie and tapped in for a 4 after a tidy pitch shot on the par-5 16th hole.

 

“I just have to have the same game plan (today),” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of golf to play and a lot of players that have a chance still.”

 

Rogers went out in 33 and played the back nine at even par to put up his best round of the year for the Falcons.

 

Defending regional and state champion Coronado again looked like the team to beat. A.J. McInerney, last year’s Class 4A state individual champion who hadn’t played in a month because of a back injury, returned and carded a 71 to lead the Cougars, who shot 355.

 

Sophomore Julian Glasser carded a 70 and was the low man for Coronado. And the gutsy performance by an ailing McInerney helped the Cougars take an 18-shot advantage over second-place Foothill (373) despite the stellar rounds by Montgomery and Rogers.

 

“I’m just happy to have him out here; the guys are happy to have him back,” Coronado coach Joe Sawaia said of the UNLV-bound McInerney. “He missed a lot of golf this year ... so it was good to see him out there.”

 

Green Valley (403) was third in the team standings. The top three teams compete today at Highland Falls Golf Club in Pahrump for a berth in the state tournament in Reno next week.

 

Coronado         355
Foothill             373
Green Valley    403
Las Vegas        457

Taylor Montgomery, Foot    68
Bailey Rogers, Foot            69
Julian Glasser, Cor             70
A.J. McInerney, Cor            71
Tad Darlan, Cor                  71
Kenden Slattery, Cor          71
Matt Welch, Cor                 72
Giovanni Latty, Eld             73
Jordan Green, GV              74
Christian Pate, Cor             76
Josh Fisher, Sil                   76
Lawrence Lopez, Foot        77
Connor Bodin, Foot            78
Hayden Cottle, GV             79
Zach Thomas, LV               80
Robert Zoucha, Foot          81
Devan Holmes, Lib            81
John Wilborn, CS              82
Cody Smith, GV                 82
Blaise McComb, GV          83