Spartans finish strong

Stringing together three birdies in four holes on the back nine Wednesday, Pierce High's Ben Geyer overcame a disastrous front nine and gusting winds to earn low medalist honors at the Sacramento Valley League golf tournament at River Oaks Golf Course in Nicolaus.

Geyer shot a 3-under-par 33 on the back nine to finish with a 3-over-par 74, finishing three strokes in front of Chato Esparza of Willows.

Host team East Nicolaus easily won the team competition. The Spartans finished with a 220-236—456. Willows was second (228-243—471), followed by Pierce (253-245—458), Rio Vista (242-242—484) and Durham (266-273—539). Colusa fielded only two golfers.

With its win, East Nicolaus remains perfect in the SVL in three matches. The Spartans are the two-time defending SVL champions as well as the Northern Section champion.

"We're in the driver's seat for a three-peat," Spartans coach Lee Gardner said, adding repeating as Section champion will be more difficult.

"We need to drop some scores," Gardner said. "I figure we need to get below 400 as a team."

East Nicolaus might have flirted with 400 on Wednesday if the Spartans had been at full strength. Bryce Taddy, who shoots consistently in the 90s, missed the match because he plays on the East Nicolaus baseball team. As a result, the Spartans played with the minimum five players and the fifth golfer shot 123.

East Nicolaus' best golfer Wednesday was Blake Taddy, who played third man on the team. Taddy ended up carding the best front nine of the tournament, shooting a 1-over-par 36. He finished with an 81.

"I missed an eagle on No. 5 by an inch," Taddy said, noting his second shot at the par-5, 515-yard hole landed within 7 feet of the pin.

Putting and approach shots were the key to his front-nine play, Taddy added.

Geyer, meanwhile, would just as soon forget his front nine. He was cruising along at 1-over-par through six holes when his approach shot at the seventh nestled into a greenside bunker. It took him three shots to get out and he ended up posting a triple-bogey 7.

He followed that up with bogeys at eight and nine.

"I just hit three bad shots in a row," Geyer said, admitting he was trying to be too delicate with the shot at a pin that was downhill and close to the trap.

Geyer made up for that dismal stretch with his birdie binge on the back side.

"I just started hitting some greens and making some putts," Geyer said.

His rally started at the 11th where his chip from off the green on the par-3 hole hit the flagstick.

Geyer then birdied the par-4 12th with a 25-foot putt, the par-3 14th with a 20-foot putt and the par-5 15th hole with a 12-foot putt. He narrowly missed a birdie at the par-4 13, when his 25-foot putt was on line but came up 3 inches short.

East Nicolaus' No. 1 man, Justin Jerome, struggled with an 86.

"That's the worst I've played in five months," Jerome said, noting he normally shoots in the low 70s on the Spartans' home course.

Jerome didn't want to make any excuses but his coach said Jerome had emergency dental surgery the day before.

"He almost didn't play today," Gardner said.

Other scorers for East Nicolaus were Nick Massey (41-41—82) and Jessee Gardner (42-42—84).

Other scorers for Pierce were Matthew Vaughn (54-52—106), Emanuel Villaneuva (46-51—107), Tim Kalfsbeek (56-52—108) and Armando Colsa (56-57—113).

Scoring for Colusa were Brandon Harakh (53-49—102) and Armando Rangel (50-55—105).

Contact Richard Myers at 749-4714 or rmyers@appeal-democrat.com