Carson High school golfer Jimmy Potter watches his chip shot on the 7th hole at Eagle Valley Golf Course during the Carson Invitational on Thursday, April 7, 2005, in Carson City, Nev. AP Photo Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
The gusting winds that wreaked havoc on the Carson Valley Thursday afternoon made Eagle Valley East play like Doral's famed Blue Monster course.
That sent scores at the annual Carson High Invitational soaring higher than a kite, as only three golfers broke 80 and many went over 100.
"It was probably the third worst (day) weather-wise I've ever and the first time on this course," Carson's T.J. Cockerill said. "You had to go up two or three clubs when you were hitting into the wind."
"It was nasty," added Carson's Matt Mitchell. "I didn't like the wind. It was pushing my ball around a lot."
Fallon, the first-day leader, shot 457 and finished with a 36-hole total of 820, one shot ahead of Nevada Union. Carson, which entered the day tied for third with Nevada Union, finished third with 832. Eureka was fourth at 834 and Sonora was fifth at 847.
T.J. Cockerill led the Senators with a 36-hole total of 162 (74-88), followed by Jimmy Potter at 163 (74-89), Kyle Bacon at 166 (79-87), Tyson Roser 170 (75-85) and Kyle Winter 171 (79-92).
Nevada Union's Erik Flores and Fallon's Scott Smith tied for first place at 154, two shots ahead of Dublin's Travis Crothers. Pitman's Shane O'Brien was fourth at 158 and Eureka's Danny Clayton rounded out the top five at 159.
"I thought the kids played pretty well," Carson coach Rod Butler said. "It was real tough out there. We didn't lose any ground. We started the day third and stayed there."
Cockerill's only birdie came on the par-4 396-yard 18th when he chipped in from behind the green. He struggled mightily on the back nine with four straight double bogeys between the 10th and 13th holes before making bogey on No. 14 to break the string. He bounced back with a par on the 342-yard 16th and the 187-yard par-3 17th.
On the front side, Cockerill started with three straight bogeys and then went par, bogey, par, par and bogey to finish with a 41.
The left-handed Potter failed to get a birdie, and was extremely unhappy with his front-side score of 48, which included five bogeys, a par, a triple-bogey 8 on the 526-yard par-5 fourth hole and a double-bogey on the 171-yard par-3 fifth.
Potter settled down somewhat on the back side with five pars, a double-bogey 6 on the 311-yard par-4 14th and three bogeys.
"I played pretty good on the back nine," Potter said.
Bacon also was unable to card a birdie in the windy conditions. With the exception of double-bogeys on the par-4 344-yard ninth hole and the par-5 503-yard 15th, he avoided big numbers.
Bacon parred both par-3s on the front - the 171-yard fifth and the 153-yard seventh. He parred three holes on the back.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281
