Top High School Golfers to Compete at Canyon Club
Preview of May 7-8 N.M. State Golf Championships
The top high school golf teams from across New Mexico and West Texas will face off April 23 at the Canyon Club at Four Hills in the second annual Shootout in the Desert.
The Shootout in the Desert event, organized by the Sun Country Golf House, an alliance between the Sun Country PGA Section and the Sun Country Amateur Golf Association, seeks to identify the top players among boys and girls.
Teams competing in the Shootout in the Desert include perennial golf powerhouse Hope Christian Academy of Albuquerque, Portales High School, St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, Ruidoso High School, Robertson High School in El Paso, Los Alamos High School, Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, Piedra Vista High School in Farmington, La Cueva High School, Manzano High School, Socorro High School, and St. Pius High School of Albuquerque.
Goal of Shootout in the Desert
“The long-term goal of the shootout is to not only produce the top regular-season event in the state but also to invite the top teams from every [New Mexico Athletic Association] classification and the City of El Paso to identify the top boys and girls golf teams in the region, ” the Golf House organizers said in a statement.
The Sun Country Golf House event should provide a good preview of the New Mexico Activities Association’s state golf championships to be held May 7-8.
The boys and girls championships will be held on three courses: Pinon Hills in Farmington (6A); Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs (5A); and the Canyon Club at Four Hills in Albuquerque (A-4A).
The Cleveland boys and La Cueva girls won 6A last year. Artesia boys and girls won 5A. St. Michael’s won the A-4A girls and Hope Christian and Portales finished T1 in A-4A boys.
Individual winners in 2017 were: 6A boys, T1 Ben Wells and Travis Olson; 6A girls Emily Yates; 5A boys, Chesten Browning; 5A girls Ashlee Garrett; A4A boys, Thomas Tulk, A4A girls Carisa Padilla.
The April 23 Shootout in the Desert event will have a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start.
Spectators are welcome. To reach the club, exit Interstate 40 at the Tramway Boulevard exit on the eastern edge of Albuquerque, turn south to Central and immediately turn east on Central, then south on Four Hills Drive and travel 0.9 miles and the club entrance will be on the right.
Related: The past dominance in girls prep golf by the Galloway sisters of Rio Rancho.
Dan Vukelich, editor of New Mexico Golf News, is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America and the Golf Travel Writers of America. Reach him at dan@newmexicogolfnews.com
