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Ironwood Ridge senior Kevin Goldstein called his score of 32 on the front nine at Silverbell one of his best rounds ever but he came oh so close to making it the best of his career and he did it against rival school Canyon del Oro.

Amphitheater hosted Canyon del Oro and Ironwood Ridge Tuesday and the young Panthers came in knowing all about the accomplishments of their seasoned opponents – CDO has won the last two state championships (nine overall) and Ironwood Ridge won one in 2008 and both schools have produced top players with CDO coming up with two straight individual medalists including current Dorado Jaime Waltmire.

Goldstein took the second slot along with Waltmire and Amphi sophomore Bobby Cervantes. Waltmire shot a respectable 35 and Cervantes a 66 but Goldstein came up to the last hole (par 3 9th) 5 under.

“I was doing great,” explained Goldstein. “I had four birdies in a row and I had a birdie on 8. I stuck three shots within a foot of the hole. It was definitely one of my top five rounds.

“I played eight great holes,” Goldstein added.

Goldstein missed a few close putts on his last hole but, still, a 32 is not too shabby. It will certainly stand up as one of the best rounds this year.

Waltmire reflected on his state championship run after his round and he recalled how he did not play too well during the regular season last fall.

“Everything just started to click at the end of the year,” he said. “I was getting down on myself but I turned it around.”

Waltmire was a little late getting into the recruiting battles but his championship put him on the college radar but it hasn’t changed his attitude on the course.

“I set goals,” he added. “But they are not a priority, if that makes sense. I just let it happen.”

Several of the Amphi golfers have only recently picked up a club and it was John Parham’s inaugural competition as their coach. Still, the golfers came in with great attitudes, knowing a round like this would prepare them for other schools.

John Farbarik and CDO will host Sabino on Thursday at the Oro valley Country Club and Amphi will host Douglas. Ryan Bais will take Ironwood Ridge to the 49er Country Club to play Sahuaro on September 4.

AMPHI
Juan Chico 65
Bobby Cervantes 66
Giovanni Noriega 68
Mike Stoner 68
Tom Budinger 69

CDO
Chris Meyers 34
Frankie Wu 35
Jaime Waltmire 35
Jake Dutson 38
Chris Cotsones 41

RIDGE
Kevin Goldstein 32
Ruben Ruiz 34
Frankie Ortiz 34
Andy Hunter 36
Nate Sverdrup 36

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.