By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Hanna’s Santiago Garcia has come oh so close at the Region IV-6A golf tournament.
Garcia, a senior four-time District 32-6A individual champion, came up one stroke shy of forcing a playoff that would have given him a chance to qualify for next month’s UIL state tournament during the final round of Tuesday’s Region IV-6A tournament at San Antonio’s Republic Golf Club.
As a sophomore, Garcia was beaten in an extra-hole playoff to determine a qualifier for state.
Garcia was seeking his first trip to state Tuesday and came up just short.
“That’s golf,” said Adrian Garcia, Santiago’s father and golf coach at Hanna.
The top three teams and the top three individual players not on a state-qualifying team earned berths to play in the Class 6A boys state tournament May 14-15 in Georgetown.
Garcia, who last week signed a full-ride scholarship to play golf next school year at Texas A&M International in Laredo, shot 71-72 — 143 over two days on the par-71 course at Republic Golf Club.
The Hanna golfer was edged out for the third individual spot that qualified for state by McAllen Memorial’s C.W. Phillips, who shot 70-72 — 142.
The two other individual players not on state-qualifying teams who are going to Georgetown were Austin Lake Travis‘ Trey Bosco (69-70 — 139) and San Antonio Reagan’s Christian Hansen (71-70 — 141).
The golfer taking top medalist honors was Austin Westlake‘s Matthew Denton (68-66 — 134), who edged teammate Jackson Davenport (69-65 — 134) in a one-hole playoff for first place. San Antonio Johnson’s Garrett Martin (67-68 — 135) came in close behind the two Westlake golfers for third place individually.
Westlake was the team champion with a 276-270 — 546 total. San Antonio Johnson was the runner-up with a 283-287 — 570 total. The third-place team qualifying for state was Austin Vandegrift (292-289 — 581).
San Antonio Reagan (299-300 — 599) was the fourth-place team and Harlingen High (308-307 — 615) came in fifth. Turning in the top score for the Cardinals was Dylan Martinez (74-69 — 143).
The Region IV-5A boys tournament was played Monday and Tuesday at The Golf Club of Texas, also in San Antonio.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Daniel Yznaga and Skye Schweitzer played in the Region IV-5A event as individual competitors and both finished off the pace of the top golfers qualifying for trips to state.
Meanwhile, the Region IV-6A/5A tournaments for girls begin play today and run through Thursday. The 6A regional tournament will be played at Republic Golf Club, while the 5A regional event will take place at The Golf Club of Texas.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess