Steady rain washed away the Park City boys golf team’s tournament on Wednesday, but Thursday’s duel against Brighton didn’t offer much better news.
The Miners dropped the home duel 12.5-7.5 after a tough day from its top groups. The weekly duels are new to Park City in its new region, but coach George Murphy wasn’t offering any excuses.
“We got to get a little stronger as far as our depth and our leaders who led us off in our first two groups,” Murphy said. “Those four players, they know they got to step it up.”
Park City’s first group lost its match 4.5-0.5, and the second group lost by the same margin, putting the Miners behind the eight ball early. A comeback from the Miners’ later groups brought their score to 7.5 points on the day.
“A lot of it could be as I get used to this format, who to pair with who in these tournaments, which two players really play well together,” Murphy said. “It’s kind of cool because it’s kind of like a Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup format in golf and … strategy goes into it, I guess, and select who’s going to gel well together.”
Duels aren’t as important as the weekly tournaments in the region standings — winning all seven duels is worth seven points, the equivalent of winning one tournament — but Murphy is hoping that Thursday’s result is a wake-up call for his team. The Miners’ next tournament is on Monday at Old Mill.
“These duels are low-key events, they’re just nine holes, so it’s not all 18 like the tournaments are weekly,” Murphy said. “But hopefully we’ll have some better news to report on Monday.”
Murphy did mention a few bright spots, like the efforts of senior Will Agnew, senior Luke Tooley and freshman Lucas Sweeney. Agnew split his match against Brighton’s top golfer, while Tooley and Sweeney swept their group to keep the Miners competitive against Brighton.
“There were some good things, it was just that all it takes is one or two players in a format like this in each group, if they’re a little off, it hurts,” Murphy said. “It’s not a lack of trying, but it’s our home course, so they’ve just got to reassess what they’re doing, how they approach it and see if we can get them prepared a little bit better for the duels.”