Ram golfers come back to win tourney

ROSWELL — Wind? What wind? The Portales golfers used the strong April gusts to their benefit Tuesday afternoon at Roswell’s Spring River golf course to come from behind and win the Roswell-NMMI championship.

The result, however, rests upon a possible scoring discrepancy that could hand the trophy to second place Roswell High, according to the Portales coach late Tuesday.

“It’s a huge lift for us,” Ram golf head coach Pat Crowley said. “We really wanted to win this one prior to going to the Leroy Gooch (Ruidoso) next week. They proved themselves today.”

Sophomore Donavin Sanchez cut through the wind to post the best score of the day, an even-par 71.

“Donavin had an absolutely unbelievable round today,” Crowley said. “To shoot even par on that golf course with the condition it was in ... he played really, really solid.”

Fellow sophomore William Archibeque followed Sanchez with a six-over-par 77. Senior Jefferson Powers posted an 81, followed by sophomore Rick Bergman’s 90, and senior Garrett Hatch’s 98.

“They feel that at any given time, one of these five guys — if somebody’s just having an absolutely horrid day, somebody else can step up and throw one into the count and we’ll be ready to go,” Crowley said.

Whether or not the Rams get to keep the trophy, Crowley was very pleased with their performance.

“It was a windy day and a different mindset from (Monday),” Crowley said. “It was a tougher golf course, a little bit more difficult. Shot placement was critical.”

But according to Crowley, even more important than shot placement was the Rams ability to defy the wind.

“We did not let the weather affect us. They did a great job handling that mentally,” Crowley said. “We played better in the wind on some occasions, and bogey was a great score (yesterday).”

The Portales girls played their second-round at the NMMI golf course. Senior Tori Teague posted a team-best 96, followed by senior Lindsey Woodward’s 104. Sophomore Amber McCasland shot a 122, followed by sophomore Arinn Lovett’s 128 and Lexie Polich’s 127.

“They played better today,” Lady Ram head coach Brenda Gomez said. “The wind wasn’t that bad until later in the day, we only had about four holes left when the wind got really bad.”