Reigning champ already in front

Shadow Ridge golfer Ben Davis has played at Siena Golf Club only a few times in his life.

You'd never know it by his performance, though.

Davis, the defending Sunset Region individual champion, carded a 3-under-par 69 to lead the field after the first day of the Sunset Region meet on Tuesday.

"It's short, and right now I'm struggling with my long irons," Davis said of Siena, where he shot a first-day 79 to lead the field a year ago. "I like having a wedge in my hand, because there isn't as much room to screw up a shot."

Davis put on a short-game clinic Tuesday, totaling four birdies to one bogey as he used his putter to make up for several errant shots off the tee.

"My putting was amazing," he said. "I only missed one putt that I thought I should've made. But even that was a 15-foot slider going away, so it was a tough putt to make."

The Mustang sophomore ended the front nine with consecutive birdies, sinking a 20-foot putt on the par-4 No. 9 to shoot 34.

Davis also smashed his driver nearly 300 yards off the tee of the par-5 eighth hole, laid up with a 3-iron to the fringe and dropped a short wedge-stroke within four feet of the pin to tap in for birdie.

"I wasn't really feeling confident, because my irons and wedges weren't great," Davis said. "They were a little bit off, so I had to get up and down a lot, which I did."

Dillon Dudley shot 1-under 71, and Brandon Bauman added a 72 as Palo Verde cruised to the team lead with 381.

Dudley made three birdies on the back nine, including consecutive bombs on Nos. 11 and 12, but also carded three bogeys on the back. His birdie on the par-4 second hole led to a 1-under 35 on the front.

Bishop Gorman shot 400, followed by Arbor View at 404, Desert Oasis at 405 and Centennial at 411.

Van Thomas led the Aggies with a 74, dropping three birdies on the back nine .

"I think we're better as a team when we relax, and we were too tense on the front," Thomas said. "But on the back, coach told us, 'We're out; play for yourself, and try to make the next day by yourself.' It really lifted the pressure."

Zane Thomas and Nick Bible each added a 76 for Arbor View, and Cody Piper shot 81.

"Nick really stepped it up today; I'm really happy for him," Van Thomas said. "Without him, we wouldn't even be in contention. I knew he was worried about it earlier; he was stressing about it. But he got that off his shoulder, and he should do well tomorrow."

SUNRISE REGION

A.J. McInerney fired a 3-under-par 69 to help Coronado take a 29-stroke lead after the first round of the Sunrise Region tournament at Stallion Mountain.

The Cougars were 6-over as a team, posting a 366.

"We had real balanced scoring," Coronado coach Joe Sawaia said. "A.J. kind of set the tone with a nice 3-under. He made one bad swing that cost him a double bogey; otherwise it could have been better."

Foothill was second at 395, with Green Valley third at 403.

Silverado's Josh Fisher was second individually at 72. Coronado's Matt Welch and Bradley Keyer each shot 73 to tie with Foothill's Taylor Montgomery for third.

All six of Coronado's golfers were in the top 10, with Kabir Nanar shooting 74, and Andrew Chu and Kenden Slattery each shooting 77.

"We have really good players," Sawaia said. "We have for quite some time now. It's not a really shockingly low round for us. Some of them left disappointed. Matt and Bradley, who shot 73, they could have really had a good low one today, something under par. I saw them both miss some really makeable 3-footers. But it happened to everybody. It was tough going on the greens.

"We've got some really good players, and they work at it extremely hard and they're going to play good because they're good. We're going to enjoy it while we can."

Both meets conclude with the final round at Mountain Falls in Pahrump.