Former Foothill star wins Southern Nevada Amateur

As a senior at Foothill High School in 2022, Andrew Hawk could only think “what if?” as he finished second in the Class 5A state tournament.

He wasn’t about to let that happen again over the weekend in the prestigious Southern Nevada Amateur.

Hawk saw his lead disappear on the back nine until he birdied the final three holes to claim a one-stroke victory over Jackson Parrish and Kevin McEvoy on the Sun Mountain track at Paiute Golf Resort. Hawk’s final round 72 left him at 3-under 141 for the weekend on the difficult layout.

The trio were the only ones to finish under par as players battled some windy conditions, which can be accentuated at the unprotected Paiute layout.

In the Senior division, Gary Carpendale made it six straight wins in SNGA events this year, running away with the title on his home course. Normally playing in the Silver division, Carpendale moved up to the Seniors to finish at even-par 144, five better than Kelly Knievel.

Anthony Claveria won the Silver crown despite shooting 80 in the second round. He finished at 7-over 151 to hold off Bryan Link.

Hawk, who recently finished his freshman season at Utah Valley, had led after a first-day 69 that included five birdies and two bogeys. Day two wasn’t so steady. After two birdies and two bogeys on the front, Hawk bogeyed No. 13 and doubled No. 14 to lose his lead. But he held things together with a par on the 15th before rattling off the three birdies on the difficult closing stretch.

Parrish, a sophomore at Cal Poly and the 2022 champion, closed with a 68 for the low round of the tournament, but a bogey on the last kept him from defending his title.

Winners in the net divisions included Arturo Estrada (Championship), Keith Ward (Senior) and Claveria (Silver).

State Match Play

Parrish may have come up just short in the Southern Nevada Am, but he was solid a week earlier in the Nevada State Match Play Championship.

Parrish won the championship match 6 and 5 over Craig Erickson to wrap up four days of play at Boulder Creek Golf Club.

He did the job by winning holes in bunches, including four holes in a six-hole stretch on the back nine during the first 18 of the final, and three more in a row after the turn during the second 18 to put the match away.

In the semifinals, Parrish had beaten 2020 Nevada State Amateur champion Michael Sarro 3 and 2, while Erickson took care of Hawk 1-up.

Parrish credited his putter for the win.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing well tee to green if you’re not taking advantage of that and making putts,” he told the Nevada State Golf Association. “And this week I made some putts to keep my momentum going.”

Rebels score in classroom

Four members of the UNLV women’s golf team have been named All-American Scholars by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association.

Veronica Joels (master’s in hotel administration), junior Toa Yokoyama (human services), junior McKenzi Hall (pre-business) and sophomore Thienna Huynh (pre-business) earned the distinction, giving UNLV four All-American Scholars for the first time since 2011.

It is the eighth consecutive year Amy Bush-Herzer’s team has placed at least three players on the list.

To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must carry a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 during the 2022-23 academic year.

This is the fourth time Joels has been so honored, while Yokoyama and Hall made the list for the second consecutive year.

U.S. Amateur qualifier

Eighty players will tee it up this week at Boulder Creek Golf Course looking to earn one of two available spots into the U.S. Amateur next month in Colorado. The field is filled with high school and college players and other high-level amateurs primarily from Southern Nevada, Utah and Arizona, as well as one extremely high-profile player from Dallas: former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.