College of the Canyons and Reedley set pace on first day of 3C2A Men's Golf Championship

Complete Results l Photos

GOLETA – The red scoreboard marker took Mother’s Day off on Day 1 of the 3C2A Men’s Golf State Championships on Sunday at Sandpiper Golf Club as the par-72 course showed itself a formidable foe for the top golfers in the state.

College of the Canyons posted the low team score of the opening round, shooting a collective score of 374, one shot ahead of defending state champion, Reedley College (375) and six shots ahead of Napa Valley College (380), with Cypress (382), Santa Barbara (382), Sierra (386), Cuyamaca (389) and Fresno City (394) rounding out the eight-team field of scores.

The stern conditions were a far cry from last year’s state finals, where low-score records were set at Dragonfly Golf Club in Madera. The opening round there saw 25 golfers shoot under par in the opening round of competition. Sandpiper’s hilly, narrow and slick green conditions pushed the golfers to another level of play on Sunday.

Low individual rounds for Day 1 went to COC’s Hugo Boyer and Napa’s Markus Nanpei, who each handled the cold coastal weather and shot even-par 72s, with Cypress’ Badil Strolz and Reedley’s Black Contente each one shot back with 73s. A plethora of 74s from Paul Grimonpon (Canyons), Nick Chavarin (Cuyamaca), Alex Masccaro (Cypress), Michael Gentry (Santa Barbara), Eliot Vidal (Reedley), Ricky Sullivan (Reedley), Kyler Ostrom (Sierra), Tiger Tahvildari (Orange Coast) and Travis Winn (74) will make the race for the individual state champion even more challenging.

Day 2 of the 3C2A Men’s Golf State Championship begins on Monday at 8 a.m. back at Sandpiper Golf Club.

(Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA)