Mack’s play lights up the course

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 | 9:52 a.m.

With a water main break holding up the start of play and darkness quickly settling on the Boulder City Municipal golf course, it was tough to tell what was a tougher challenge at the Sunset Region golf tournament -- dealing with the cool, windy and increasingly poorly lit conditions or trying to edge powerhouse Bishop Gorman and their star, In-Bee Park.

Mackenzie Mack did both.

Mack, a Cimarron-Memorial junior, was in the first group that finished about a half-hour before play was called at 6:15 p.m. due to darkness, and shot 1-under-par 35, one stroke better than Park, to win medalist in the Sunset Region and earn a trip to Reno to compete for the state title next week.

Park, a Bishop Gorman junior who has competed in LPGA events, led a group of Gaels golfers who placed second through fifth in the tournament, leading Bishop Gorman to its second Sunset title in two years. The team shot 198, 41 strokes better than second-place Palo Verde.

Cimarron coach John Nelson said that Mack's goal was to carry her teammates to the state tournament.

"I know it's a team sport, but she put the whole team on her shoulders today and came up short," Nelson said. "She was more concerned about us not going as a team."

Mack finished fifth at last year's Sunset tournament at Henderson's Black Mountain Country Club.

"I was thinking about helping my team go to state," Mack said. "Every stroke counts. I was just trying to get the ball in the hole."

Except every stroke didn't count.

With less than a third of the 13 groups through the scheduled 18 holes, play was suspended due to darkness. Unlike the boys' tournament last spring, when play resumed the next morning, Boulder City was booked on Wednesday and the course was scheduled for aeration, making for different conditions when play could potentially resume on Thursday.

Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association rules call for the scores to be based on nine-hole totals if the tournament is suspended because of weather or darkness.

But with several golfers improving dramatically on the back nine, the move left many parents steaming, with one vowing that his daughter would never golf in high school again. Coaches were upset that nothing has been done to try to fix a recurring problem.

The event got under way almost an hour late, with the first tee originally slated for noon on Monday. The water main break temporarily cut off access to the course, and groups with earlier tee times were let on the course to take the times they paid for.

No matter what the reason, many coaches suggested that the NIAA should try to come up with the funding to buy earlier tee times for the twice annual tournaments -- boys in May and girls in October -- that each of the three 4A regions participate in.

"This has happened more than once," Gorman coach Kelsey McCall said. "They need to address the situation, they need to spend the money on the sport. Nine holes is not a test. Let's take it to the extreme. What if we played only three holes? The more holes you play, the less luck is involved.

"It's like they just let golf happen. They're not going to make sure it happens."

Palo Verde coach Peggy Lair said she thought her team was building momentum as the day went on.

"My initial reaction was, we had a good chance on 18 holes," Lair said. "Everybody I talked to improved on the backside."

Veteran tournament director Jane Schlosser said the aeration of the course would be unfair to all participants.

"The course could be totally different," she said. "I also don't have the authority for the kids to get out of school."

But Lair said that it was also unfair to cut it off after last year's Sunset boys' tournament at the Paiute course, when high winds coupled with a late start pushed play into darkness. Instead of cutting things off after nine holes, play resumed the next morning.

"If the boys got to go back out last spring, they set a new precedent," Lair said. "I'd like to see us be as fair as possible."

Amy Phalajivin from Shadow Ridge and Mandi Incorvaia from Palo Verde both shot 42 to qualify for the state tournament, scheduled for next week at Reno's ArrowCreek Legends Course. Centennial's Morgan Kerber (43), Sierra Vista's Kyrce Higa (44), and Cimarron's Kelsey Voit (45) also qualified for the state tournament as individuals.