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Miners cruise to Region 10 title, prep for state championships

Park City High School's JT Harman laughs as a mallard duck waddles across the 18th green at the Park City Golf Course during a Region 10 Meet earlier this year. The duck stayed around for the putting to conclude and followed the boys down the golf cart trail to the next hole.
Tanzi Propst/Park Record

When you win eight state championships in a row, a region title loses its luster. This was the scenario the Park City High School boys’ golf team faced heading into the final Region 10 meet of the season on Tuesday, where the Miners claimed first place with a score of 292, four-over par. The next-best score, Union High School, was 26 strokes behind.

Dealing with some weather, Tuesday’s match on the silver course at Soldier Hollow was a near-perfect tune-up before the state tournament, which is the first week of October.

“We were looking at it as just kind of a warm up or a preview of how the state tournament is going to be [at Soldier Hollow],” said Head Coach George Murphy. “We were looking at how they played, especially when it got windy.”

Park City was led by Zane Schemmer and Cole Lee, who both shot an even-par 72. Dean Tsandes and Josh Lansky followed with marks of 73 and 75, respectively, to give the team its 292 score.

All season long, the strength of this team has been the depth it boasts. In years past, the Miners have relied on some of its top golfers, including last season with now-departed Mitchell Schow and Drew Fleming, on their way to a dynasty. But in 2016, there hasn’t been one golfer that has stuck out more than any other.

In fact, Schemmer, the lead golfer for Park City on Tuesday, was slotted in the No. 8 spot in the lineup, proving that on any given day, any one of these Miner golfers could lead the way.

“I don’t think we’ve had this kind of depth where we’ve had all eight [golfers] capable of playing that well,” Murphy said.

In addition to another Region 10 title, history was made by the Park City team on Tuesday.

By the end of the match, the Miners didn’t claim either of the top two spots in the region — those belonged to Austin Jaramillo of Union and Bridger Holmes of Tooele — but they did take the next eight to round out the top 10. This is something that not even Park City, the eight-time defending state champions, has done.

If a team has an individual that finishes in the top 12 of its region, that golfer is able to participate in the individual portion of the state tournament. Because of this, Murphy will be allowed to take all eight of those golfers to the state championship, even though only six will count for the team score.

With the top Park City golfer seemingly changing with every match, Murphy has a tough decision to make before Oct. 5-6.

“Right now, it’s kind of just up in the air. I don’t know what to do,” Murphy said. “But I’ve got about a week to figure out.”

Having too many good golfers is not a bad problem to have, but there will surely be some heavy contemplation done by the Park City head coach this next week in terms of setting a lineup for the state championships. Even so, Murphy and his team are confident heading into their final competition of the season.

“[The players] feel pretty good with where they are,” Murphy said. “They each have some things they want to work on and get better at, but they know that at that course, the silver course at Soldier Hollow, they are capable of scoring. It’s going to be, this year, who’s going to step up and make a name for themselves. … Raising the bar for themselves individually, but also just to help the team.”


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