After capturing the District 32-6A title in dominating fashion, the Harlingen boys golf team had hoped that momentum would carry over into the Region IV-6A tournament, which was held in San Antonio earlier this week.
Unfortunately, the competition up north proved a little too tough and the Cardinals had to settle for an 11th-place finish, which was not good enough to qualify for next month’s UIL state tournament.
Collectively, the squad shot a 655 for the tournament with senior Cole Charvat leading the way with a two-day total of 154.
Comparatively, Austin Westlake won the team title with a score of 561 while Reese Ramsey shot a 136 to not only lead his squad but capture the individual championship as well.
Despite not advancing to state, head coach Chris Milligan was pleased with his team’s success throughout the season.
“I’m very proud of our guys this year,” he said. “As a whole, these guys dominated all year long. We just didn’t have the magic in San Antonio.
“We got off to a hot start on the first few holes on Day 1 and I think that caused us to just get too aggressive off the tee box moving forward. We lost it on the tee boxes this week, plain and simple, and had way too many self-inflicted penalties and missed fairways. It definitely didn’t help that we couldn’t get any real momentum on the greens. We made a putt here and there, but we just couldn’t build on it,” Milligan continued.
“Cole Charvat was striking the ball great, but just couldn’t get putts to fall. If the putts were dropping for him, we may be talking about a trip to state right now,” added Milligan.
“Dylan Martinez has been fighting a wrist injury for a few months now. He hit a bunker shot on his fourth hole on Day 1 that caused it to flare up. He was under par at that point before the pain set in. He came back on Day 2 and showed me what he’s capable of by shooting a 74.
“We’ll miss Cole next season, but the majority of the team will be back next year and we’ll remember this feeling. They say wisdom comes from experience and we feel like we have a dump truck of wisdom after these last few days,” concluded Milligan.
Harlingen was not the only Valley team that struggled in the Alamo City. PSJA North, Edinburg Vela, McAllen High and Weslaco High all finished lower than the Cardinals.
McAllen Memorial was the only area team to crack the top 10 as they finished in ninth place with a 652 total. C.W. Phillips led the way for the Mustangs and actually qualified for state thanks to a two-day score of 143.
Meanwhile, Harlingen South’s Brandon Garza, who was an individual qualifier out of the district tournament, shot a 172 to finish in 73rd place.
