By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
Nate Newman and Parker Smith have been friends almost their entire lives, but they’re also each other’s biggest competition.
The 1-2 punch is at the core of Harlingen High’s success on the golf course, and the golfers’ dynamic is a special one. Newman and Smith support each other endlessly while also striving to best each other every time they hit the links.
“Parker is a good friend of mine and whether it’s a tournament or not we’re always trying to beat each other, and I think having that drives us to play better and practice harder,” Newman said. “When we beat each other we’re happy for one another, and that’s a really good thing to have. But there’s tons of trash talk, for sure.”
The duo has been trading places as the top Cardinals finisher all season. Smith, a sophomore, has six top-five finishes in his varsity debut year. He dominated at the JV level last year due to district alignment issue making him ineligible to compete on varsity.
Newman has won two tournaments — the San Benito Invitational in October and the Los Fresnos Invitational in November — and has six top-10 finishes under his belt. The junior is Harlingen High’s team captain and has been a key score for the Cardinals since his freshman year.
In both of Newman’s tournament wins, Smith was right behind him in second place. The victory in Los Fresnos came after a playoff as both Cardinals finished with a score of 156. They both scored a 157 at the Class 6A Regional Preview Invitational that took place Feb. 28-29 in San Antonio, and Newman took second as Smith finished third on a scorecard playoff.
“They feed off each other. They’re both very competitive individuals and neither one of them likes to lose to the other, but they also have a lot of maturity because I’ve never seen them put the other down,” Cardinals coach Chris Milligan said. “They always want the other to play their best, but they still hope they come out on top. They bring a very healthy competitive dynamic to our team.”
Harlingen High won three straight tournaments in the fall behind the play of Newman, Smith and senior Chris Galvan. Milligan called Galvan “the quiet backbone of the team” and said though he’s not outspoken, he’s as consistent and they come and a hard worker. Milligan said Larry Bolt is another player with a lot of potential who will help the Cardinals if spring sports return.
The strengths of Newman and Smith on the golf course are different, but they’ve both developed rapidly under Milligan throughout the years. The Harlingen High coaching staff also runs the middle school golf program, so the Cardinals have been working and bonding with their coach since seventh grade, and both said his influence has been beneficial to their game.
Milligan said Newman’s strength is his short game. He believes Newman “has all the ability to be the best high school golfer in the Valley, hands down” and said the growth in his demeanor has helped his play and his leadership abilities. Course management and having a short memory are two things Newman is working to refine.
“The mental side of golf is probably the biggest part of it because if you practice hard enough you’ll be able to play well, but if you’re not in the right frame of mind it’s really hard to have success,” Newman said. “(I’m working on) accepting that it’s not always going to work the way you want it to, and you just have to keep your head up and go out the next day and work out your issue.”
Smith’s course management, on the other hand, is what Milligan calls the rookie’s biggest strength. Smith has the lowest scoring average on the team due to his level approach and ability to work any course. He loves to compete and leans on his solid putting skills to execute his game plan.
“The best part of my game is definitely my short game, my putting, which is one of my favorite parts. Since I don’t hit it far, I hit it straight and I don’t really miss my lines,” Smith said. “I’ve always told (Nate) that every time I practice I have him in mind because I want to beat him so badly, but I also want him to play good because there’s no satisfaction if he plays bad.”
Fortunately for the Cardinals, even if the golf season doesn’t return they still have one more year to see Newman and Smith battle it out as they elevate the program. Despite golf courses being closed, they’re finding ways to stay sharp and looking forward to getting back in the tee box.
“I’m just staying ready for whenever it comes, doing some putting drills in my living room or swinging golf clubs a couple times a day,” Smith said. “Every Monday we have a Zoom meeting, just talking about how we need to keep up our swing and work on our mental game.”