Nair Earns Medalist; Tompkins Edges Seven Lakes Golfers

By Terry Carter

Shaun Nair began his final round at the District 19-6A golf tournament five-over-par in his first five holes.

It was not the ideal start for the Seven Lake’s golfer, but Nair turned the tables on the challenging layout and fast greens at The Club at Falcon Point. He birded No. 8 for the second day in a row, then notched two crucial birdies on the back nine that included the most difficult hole on a hazard-filled layout of 6,771 yards.

Shooting 1-under 35 on his final nine holes, Nair demonstrated that durability and grit are key qualities when a golf round starts out-of-sync. He struggled for five holes and responded with third birdies and one bogey on his final 11 holes to shoot 3-over 75. Paired with his first round of 79, Nair earned low medalist honors in the district tournament by one shot.

“I told Shaun after the fifth hole, ‘It’s go time. You need to refocus your energy.’ And he did,” Seven Lakes golf coach Sean Ewing said. “The turning point for him was 14. He picked up at least a couple of shots on the field with a birdie there. He hit down the left side, and I thought it may have gone in the water. But it was just short and on the hazard line. He had 135 yard and hit it to six feet — and drained that. Then he birdied 15.

The Spartans finished second to Tompkins in the boys’ team race, and both teams advanced to the Region III tournament at Eagle Pointe on April 20-21. Led by Colt Tenpenny (80-75—155) and Jeff Borchert (80-77—157), the Tompkins Falcons shot 322-321—643 over the 36-hole event. Diego Montest (80-81—161), Sumi Bandi (83-88—171) and Rahul Karthik (82-89—171) rounded out the Falcons’ consistent scoring.

“Falcon Point had no bail-out zones. And No. 14, we knew going in, it was going to brutally tough. It has a ridge in the middle, and if you don’t hit the perfect drive on that par-4, you should probably lay-up,” Ewing explained.

Seven Lakes (318-332—650) held the first-day lead by four shots over Tompkins and seven shots over Cinco Ranch. But day two at Falcon Point proved challenging as the Spartans, Cougars and Katy shot virtually the same team score while Tompkins gained at least 11 shots on the other teams.

Nair (79-75— 154) led the second-place Spartans with Nikko Taggart (80-80—160) becoming only a few golfers to shoot the same score both days under tournament pressure. The Spartans also got quality play from Andon Herrera (80-86—166), Ted Sui (79-91—170) and Timothy Lei (93-98—191).

Cinco Ranch finished third with a team score of 325-332—657, led by Kade Richman (77-81—158), Holden Kittelberger (82-83—165), Ryan Regner (83-83—166), Jake Remlinger (83-85—168) and Sam Glasgow (93-89—182).

According to online results, individual medalists who also advanced to the Region III-6A golf tournament in Mont Belvieu included Katy’s Joseph Hroch (76-81—157) and Taylor’s C.J. Larkin (80-77—157).