By Jake Gordon

STAFF WRITER

Starting a new sport is never easy. It causes a lot of growing pains and headaches just trying to field a competitive team.

That is exactly what Tooele and Grantsville high schools are doing in this, their inaugural year of fielding girls golf teams. Coaches Jimmy Arellano for Grantsville and Fred Killpack for Tooele have been asked to start a team for their respective schools.

Tooele did have a slight advantage when forming a team, with the help of Sadie Palmer. Having played with the boys golf team in previous years, Palmer has the necesary experience to be a team leader. The future Southern Utah University golfer, Palmer will have her sights set on a successful opening campaign on the course but does not want to be seem like some sort of star.

"My main goal is to get my teammates to enjoy the game like it should be," said Palmer. "Just because I have had golf team experience, I don't want to appear like a team captain, just happy being another team member."

After minor setbacks due to weather problems and scheduling conflicts, Tooele has now only competed in two matches, but they have made the most of it.

The Tooele girls won their first match by 14 strokes at Overlake Golf Course with a score of 219, led by Palmer with even par 36, that was also good enough to win individual honors by five strokes. In the team effort Jacque Trujillo shot a 53, which was good enough to tie for third individually.

Also posting scores for the Buffs were Christine Lawless with a 62 and Taylor Harris with a 68 to round out the first-place scoring.

It was different location, but the same result for the Buffs in their second match at The Reserve at East Bay. Palmer again continued her dominance with a 4-over 76, good enough for individual win and leading the team to a 19-stroke victory. Following Palmer was Meredith Nigh and Trujillo with 112 each. Mallory Peterson rounded out the scoring with a 114.

"The girls are a lot more receptive to the teaching of the game of golf," said Tooele coach Fred Killpack. "They are so willing to learn and change anything that they might be doing wrong."

Grantsville on the other hand is using girls that normally play other sports to come be on the golf team. "We had 26 girls try out, and the girls that really want to play are here now," said coach Arellano. "Of the 26 girls, only two have had real golf experience."

Kylie Erickson has fired the lowest round in all four matches that Grantsville has played, with a round of 105 recorded at Overlake Golf Course. After Kylie, who is in the top 10 individually in every match, the Cowboys are looking for consistency in scoring.

Jessica Matthews has had four out of her five scores registered for Grantsville, with her lowest score of 116 coming at Sky Way Golf Course in Tremonton. Jessica Ames has fired two scores low enough from the three matches she has played in, with her best of 115 coming at Mt. Ogden Golf Course. Paislee Painter has shot low enough in two of her four matches she played in, with her lowest round of 124 coming at Overlake.

After five events, Grantsville as a team is tied for fifth place and are slowly improving, but coach Arellano knows he is in a very tough region. "I would be very surprised if Ogden does not win state, and then we also have Ben Lomond that is also a very formidable team," said coach Arellano.

jgordon@tooeletranscript.com