Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Payne takes second spot at 72; Portales has three of top eight
ROSWELL — Monday and Tuesday offered great golf weather, great for the New Mexico Military Institute Invite.
And great for Portales’ golf team, which won the tournament.
The Rams totaled 305 points, led by Talon Payne’s 72. Teammates Valen Low (75) and Nate Cota (77) also finished on the fun side of 80, with fellow Ram Kenevan Bailey coming just a shade over it at 81.
Portales boasted three of the top eight individual golfers. Payne was second to Roswell’s Peyton Jones (71). Low tied for third with Hobbs’ Tanner Cox; Cota tied for fifth with Carlsbad’s Eli House and Hobbs’ Jake Raines and Rylan Mason.
Clovis took sixth with 344 points. Kolt Bennett paced the Wildcats with 82, followed by Christian Casaus — recovered from the flu — with 86. Chanse Bhakta and Taylor Martin (88 each) rounded out the Wildcats’ top four.
Finishing second as a team Hobbs at 310. Artesia was third (326), Carlsbad fourth (338), Goddard fifth (339), Roswell seventh (372) and Dexter eighth (379).
On the girls side, Texico finished fourth with a 379 score. Kaytlyn Queener had the Lady Wolverines’ low score of 90, followed by Emily DelaRosa (92), Grace McDaniel (97) and Macey Tharp (100).
Goddard took first with 352, followed by Artesia (359) in second and Hobbs (366) in third. Placing behind Texico were: Carlsbad (404), Roswell (419) and Dexter (481).
Leroy Gooch
RUIDOSO — Clovis’ girls were also in action Monday and Tuesday, competing in the Leroy Gooch Tournament.
And thanks to Tuesday’s score of 366, Clovis finished third overall with a two-day total of 753. The Lady Wildcats placed behind champion Deming (738) and second-place Alamogordo (741). After Clovis were: Socorro (763), Siber (777) and host Ruidoso (805).
Pacing the Lady Wildcats individually Tuesday was Logan Clayton’s 83.
Clayton was followed by Destiny Hodge’s 87, Ashley Maldonado’s 95 and Kate Lubera’s 101.
Clovis moved up on the tournament’s last day after ending Monday in fourth place with a total score of 387.
Clayton posted Clovis’ low Monday score, an 86. Next for the Lady Wildcats was Hodges with an 89.
Rounding out Clovis’ top four were Maldonado (104) and Lubera (108).
Finishing ahead of the Lady Wildcats Monday were: Goddard, whose 378 just nudged out second-place Deming (379); and third-place Soccoro (384).