San Marcos golfer Leo Metzger placed ninth overall, out of 250 golfers, at the prestigious 54-hole Champions Invitational Monday and Tuesday at the Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort in Palm Springs.
That placed Metzger on the All-Tournament team, as the Royals finished 12th overall out of 45 teams from California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Vancouver, British Colombia.
“This is one of the most prestigious and competitive team events in high school golf,” San Marcos coach Jeff Ashton said.
In Monday’s opening round, at the par-72 Resort Course — one of two championship courses at Tahquitz Creek — Metzger shot a 5-under 67.
Other San Marcos scorers were Shams Jahangir Arshad with 73, Jeffrey Forster with 75 and Holdt Gore shooting 77.
The invitational uses a college-style tournament format, with five players from each team and the top four scores counting.
“This was our best round relative to par of the two days,” Ashton said. “Our team was tied for 8th after the morning round and Leo was tied for 4th. He was 5 under through 12 and then finished even par the rest of the way.
“I was proud of the way everybody played, as we didn’t get a practice round and they were all seeing the course for the first time. Holdt recovered from an opening double-bogey with an eagle two holes later to shoot his lowest score of the three rounds.”
In the second round Monday afternoon at the par-71 Legends Course, with 25-35 mph winds kicking up, the Royals were led by Forster with a 73, followed by Jahangir-Arshad with 74, Metzger with 76 and Gore 87.
Holdt Gore 87
“Jeffrey played an incredibly solid round, controlling the ball in the wind to lead us in scoring in the afternoon round,” Ashton said. “After this round we dropped to tied for 14th as a team.”
In Tuesday’s final round, also on the Legends Course, Metzger led the Royals with a 2-under 69, followed by Forster with 1-under 70, Jahangir-Arshad 72 and Gore 80.
“For the last round, the course stretches out to 6,800 yards,” Ashton said. “Both Leo and Jeffrey shot under-par rounds on a day with much better conditions than the previous afternoon.”
Metzger finished 5-under in his last nine holes, rallying from “an unlucky break” in the front nine, Ashton said.
The San Marcos team improved on last year’s 17th-place finish from last year. In addition to Metzger’s ninth place, Forster placed 31st and Jahangir-Arshad 37th.
San Marcos sophomore Himmat Singh “also played in the tournament and gained valuable experience, although his score never made it into the counting scores,” Ashton said. “We can’t wait to attend again next year.”