Clovis shoots fourth best

LOVINGTON — Friday’s Lovington Invite wasn’t all that ‘inviting’ for the Clovis boys golf team, especially down a player due to illness.

The Wildcats shot a collective 358, fourth-best out of five teams, while missing Christian Casaus, battling the flu.

“He missed three days of practice and thought he might be back and be able to go (Friday),” Clovis boys coach Dale Fullerton said. “Thursday, he couldn’t even make it to picture day.”

So the Wildcats forged ahead with Kolt Bennett, Taylor Martin, Chanse Bhakta and Ryan Rowley. They tried, but the competition was just too tough at Lovington Country Club’s par-71 course.

“Yeah, we just had four players,” Fullerton said, “so that wasn’t really good. We’ve got a young one that’s playing ... hit the ball pretty good, just couldn’t get the ball in the hole.

“The others, if they did make putts it was after they had already messed up a little bit. Hopefully we’ll gain a little experience from it.”

Freshman Taylor Martin led Clovis with an 80. Kolt Bennett was next with an 83, followed by Chanse Bhakta at 91 and Ryan Rowley at 104.

Fullerton expects the sophomore Rowley to keep improving. “And he’s going to have to play for us this year,” Fullerton said.

Portales grabbed a respectable third place, nudging out Clovis by two strokes with a 356.

Talon Payne led the Rams with his 73 score, tying him with Lovington’s Rial Williams and Hobbs’ Tanner Cox for second place among individuals. They finished behind champion Lovington’s Tres Arreola, who fired a 67.

Valen Low was Portales’ second-best golfer, shooting a 79, a stroke up on teammate Nate Cota’s 80. Matthew Ramirez rounded out the team with his 124.

Like the Wildcats, the Rams also had a withdrawal — in their case, Josh Haman — and plunged ahead with the four players they had.

Host Lovington took first place with a 300 score, followed by Hobbs at 328 and Portales. Carlsbad finished fifth in the invite, posting a 367 score.

Clovis next plays 9 a.m. Tuesday at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell on a tricky course.

“Yes, it’ll be challenging,” Fullerton said. “Every course we play will be challenging.”

Goddard a no-go

ROSWELL — The Lady Wildcats were scheduled to compete in the Goddard Invitational Thursday at Roswell’s Spring River club, but that tournament was cancelled because they were aerating the course’s greens, according to Clovis girls coach Steve Speck.

The Lady ’Cats will instead return to action in Monday’s Leroy Gooch tournament in Ruidoso, beginning at 9 a.m.