Consistency leads to win for Liberty golfers
| Thursday, Mar 18 2010 09:35 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 18 2010 09:35 PM
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Liberty High's Max Schmidt watches his shot on the 11th green at North Kern Golf Course while playing a SEYL tournament Thursday.
Bakersfield High's Connor Huser tees off on the 12th at North Kern Golf Course during a mini SEYL tournament.
Garces High's Kevin Antongiovanni tees off on the 12th at North Kern Golf Course during a mini SEYL tournament.
Highland High's Dominick Stanley tees off on the 12th at North Kern Golf Course during a mini SEYL tournament.
Not one of the six had the best individual round of the day. But together the Liberty boys golf team put together an amazing display of consistency Thursday at North Kern Golf Course.
Powered by five of the top-10 scores, the Patriots shot 380 as a team to win the third of nine Southeast Yosemite League mini-tournaments to be held this season.
Garces (393) finished second, followed by Highland (414), Bakersfield (445) and East (499).
"We finally put five scores together and the sixth man was even a little better today so we're starting to build a little bit of momentum as the season goes on," Liberty coach Kirk Bowyer said. "We snuck by Garces today so that's always a good thing."
The win was the second in a row for Liberty, which leads the Rams 34-32 in the team standings.
The Patriots' top individual score was a 74 by senior Austin Pazzi, who along with Highland's Ryan O'Leary finished one stroke behind Garces' Gunner Kirschenmann.
"I'm starting to finally find a groove in my swing and I'm starting to hit it really solid," Pazzi said. "I'm pretty happy with the way my game is going...My uncle (David Kosakowski) passed of pancreatic cancer this morning so I wanted to come out here and dedicate this round to him. I put his initials on my ball. He came through for me."
Pazzi finished with two birdies, one fewer than his teammate Brett Kettler, who shot 75.
Kirschenmann's hot putter paved the way for his low round.
"I didn't hit it that well but I made a lot of 5-6 feet par putts and just managed to make a few birdies and hang in there steady," Kirschenmann said. "I birdied No. 18 so I had a good taste in my mouth at the end."
Bakersfield's No. 1 Conner Huser also finished strong after struggling mid-round. The Oregon State-bound Huser bogeyed seven of eight holes starting at No. 6 but finished with a 76.
"I birdied the first hole and then I went through about a six-hole stretch where I couldn't make a putt," Huser said. "I missed like four five-footers in a row. And that's just killer...I made a few birdies coming in to salvage my round."
Brett Millwee (75), Max Schmidt (77) and Nate Holloway (79) rounded out Liberty's scores.
"That's kind of the way Liberty is built as a team," Bowyer said. "We want to go out and post six best scores. We might not be the sexiest team alive as far putting low numbers on the board but we're going to put six good scores on the board and we're going to try and beat you with our consistency.
