High School Reunion: Tucson's Best Boys Golfers

1999 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Osvaldo Machado 

School: Douglas 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Osvaldo Machado swears there is nothing different that he does in his approach to regional and state competitions, but somehow that's where he finds the most room to excel.

Over the past two seasons Machado, a senior golfer from Douglas High School, has managed to post his best scores in the postseason.

Machado won the 1998 4A Kino and 1999 4A Sonoran individual titles, took third at the 1998 Class 4A state tournament at Randolph North following a six-hole playoff and ended his high school career with a seventh-place showing at the 1999 4A state tournament in Mesa three weeks ago.

"I just like competition," said Machado, the 1999 Arizona Daily Star Southern Arizona Boys Golfer of the Year. "I just concentrate more. You have to play good (at those events), so I just expect it from myself."

Machado is joined on the All-Southern Arizona first team by Sahuaro senior Luke Bathel, Catalina Foothills junior Ben Kreger, Canyon del Oro senior Brandon Muir, Sabino junior Nate Tyler and CDO junior Jimmy Yandell.

Douglas boys golf coach James Selchow says that Machado has always been a slow starter to the season, as he was this season. However, as the year progresses, so does Machado.

"He just doesn't get nervous," Selchow said. "He usually has a plan and sticks to it. He's very goal-oriented."

Selchow said Machado has been in contact with several junior colleges about the possibility of playing collegiate golf.

He said Machado will continue to travel to Tucson most weekends to compete in junior tournaments in an effort to broaden his abilities from just the one course in Douglas. — Brian J. Pedersen, 1999

2000 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Ben Kreger 

School: Catalina Foothills 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: All day long, as he nervously wore down the cart path, leading up to the clubhouse at Longbow Golf Club, Catalina Foothills boys golf coach Matt Cohen kept saying how he expected the Class 4A state tournament to come down to the last hole.

He was right, but not quite in the way he envisioned.

The 18th hole on the par-70 course in northeast Mesa proved to be the undoing of Foothills, which took second place with a two-day team score of 598, after trailing by only two shots entering the round.

"Eighteen definitely hurt us," Cohen said, whose five scorers combined to shoot six-over on the par four hole yesterday and 18-over for the tournament.

"It was the tee shot (that runs along the water)," said Foothills senior Ben Kreger, who fired a team-low 71 yesterday to finish at 146 in fourth place. "It takes a lot of guts to go for that shot. If you are not swinging your driver or your three-wood well you need to take a three-iron and lay up on the right side."

But the Falcons, who breezed through regular season competition in Tucson, and won the 4A Kino Region tournament at Rio Rico by 65 strokes, were never a team that chose to play it safe when they knew they had the ability to score low.

"It's not something I would ever discourage," Cohen said.

"We were happy to finish second, but were also disappointed because we knew we had the talent to win this thing."

"We knew we had a chance," Cohen said. "We definitely wanted to carry the banner for Tucson."

Phoenix Arcadia (594) repeated as 4A champs, but got a much tougher battle from Foothills than many people in Phoenix might have expected. The Falcons easily took second beating 1999 runner-up Scottsdale Chaparral (610) and Prescott (617) for the secondary trophy.

Kreger, one of three seniors on Foothills along with Ryan Humphreys and Jake Rogers, said the Falcons' second place finish should help further Tucson's gradual improvement in golf at the state level.

"Phoenix is such a big town and there are so many courses to play on, but things are starting to get better in Tucson," Kreger said. "With the (Tucson) Conquistadores and the Ricki Rarick (golf program), we're being given more of an opportunity to play."

Nogales tied for seventh at 636, while 4A Sonoran champ Sahuaro (652) took 11th and Palo Verde (661) took 12th.

Along with Kreger, Tucson was represented in the top 20 individually by 4A Sonoran medalist Ben Kern of Palo Verde (148) in ninth, Nogales' Michael Holler and Foothills' Humphreys (149) in a tie for 10th and Foothills' Dan Smith (150) in a tie for 13th. — Brian J. Pedersen, 2000

2001 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Ben Kern 

School: Palo Verde 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Palo Verde senior Ben Kern shot a 5-under 67 to finish at 138, beating defending champ Chad Wilcox of Glendale Cactus by five strokes for the individual title. Kern's win gave PV, which didn't qualify as a team in the boys or girls tournaments, a sweep of the individual crowns. Junior Nicole de Gennaro won the girls title on Tuesday.

Kern, son of local amateur standout Jeff Kern, shot a 71 Tuesday but said he was upset with his effort after squandering a three-birdie start to his first round. So, following birdies at Nos. 7, 8 and 9 to make the turn at 5-under 31, Kern said, "I wasn't going to let this get away from me." — Brian J. Pedersen, 2001

2002 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Michael Thompson 

School: Rincon/University 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Senior Michael Thompson finished fifth individually and helped Rincon/University win the 4A boys state golf championship. — Star staff, 2002

2003 boys golfer of the year 

Name: David McDaniel 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Canyon del Oro's David McDaniel won the Southern Region for the last two years. — Star staff, 2003

2004 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Jakob McKinley 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Jakob McKinley of Ironwood Ridge captured the 4A Sonoran championship after beating Rincon/University's Jorge Castelo in a one-hole playoff. McKinley then fired a two-day 145 at the 4A state tourney to tie with Castelo in seventh place, tops among Southern Arizona. — Star staff, 2004

2005 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Chase Hite 

School: Sabino 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: A boy named Hite stayed flat Thursday, and it paid off.

Chase Hite, Sabino's standout senior golfer, put together a 2-under-par 70 at Randolph North to win the Class 4A-I state championship.

Hite's win came at the best possible time - his final event as a prep golfer.

"It's awesome. It's the best. It doesn't even feel like I won," Hite said. "I don't even need a trophy at all. This is just the best. I'm happier than all get-out."

Hite's post-game ebullience belied the fact that he was all business - professional, calm, composed - in the final round en route to a 2-under score of 70.

Thursday's score, coupled with his 3-under 69 Wednesday, gave him a two-stroke win over Lake Havasu City's Kyle Nielsen (141).

Hite did not get too high or low in the final round, both in his mind and on his scoresheet. He did not bogey, and he birdied only two.

"He has ice in his veins," Sabino coach Rod Allen said.

"This was probably his most focused performance over a two-day period all season. He has been constantly improving all year and did a good job of staying focused."

Hite made big strides after finishing second to teammate Dan Ross in last week's 4A Sonoran Regional.

"I just stayed solid," he said. "I was basically all pars and no bogeys. I needed to make some shots, and I made them." — Ryan Finley, 2005

2006 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Jonathan Khan 

School: Salpointe Catholic 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: The Salpointe Catholic boys golf team will have to settle for just one state championship this decade - at least for another year.

If it were not for Chandler Hamilton over the last two seasons, the Lancers likely would be celebrating their third straight 5A state title.

Despite two days of elite-level golf, Salpointe again finished second to Hamilton on Tuesday at the Class 5A-I state championship at Maryvale Golf Course.

After winning the school's fourth state championship in 2004, Salpointe has finished as the runner-up in each of the last two years to the Huskies. Last year, the deficit was one stroke.

"This is disappointing, because last year ended up the same way,'' Salpointe senior Jonathan Khan said. "We played good, but they played better than we did today. We were playing really good and then faltered at the end.''

In what turned out to be a two-team race, Hamilton turned in a tournament-best score of 10-under-par 278 to win the title by four strokes over the Lancers.

The Huskies had a 36-hole total of 15-under-par 561. But they needed to be at their best. They began the final round one stroke behind Salpointe (565).

"It's hard to imagine us playing any better,'' Hamilton coach Steve Kanner said, "but I think the kids are going to get better. They work hard. They have good coaches and they love golf.''

After a team total of 282 on Monday, Salpointe had a 283 on Tuesday.

Khan was 5 under through 10 holes in the second round, but made bogey on two of his last four holes to shoot his second straight 69.

At 138, Khan missed the first-place playoff between Phoenix Mountain Pointe's Cameron Edens and Hamilton's Richard Lee by one stroke.

Lee won the playoff with a birdie on the fifth hole. He had rounds of 68 and 69. Edens was the first-round leader after a 65, but had a 72 on Tuesday.

Salpointe's Robert Perrott also was 2 over on his last four holes, and teammate Alex Johnson was 1 over on his last four.

"That's the difference right there,'' Khan said. "On (hole) 15, we were probably leading.''

Khan finished the tournament tied for third with Andrew Yun of Hamilton at 6-under-par 138. — Jeff Simon, 2006

2007 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Robert Perrott 

School: Salpointe Catholic 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: The storied career of Salpointe Catholic's Robert Perrott came to a close Thursday with his fourth straight top-10 finish at the state tournament.

Perrott placed seventh in the 5A-I tournament at Aguila Golf Course in Laveen with a 147. Salpointe finished ninth as a team, aided by freshman Ricky Lee's 12th-place 150 total.

Perrott also placed seventh last year, and was third as a freshman and sophomore. — Joey Stivala, 2007

2008 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Ben Esparza 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Ironwood Ridge's Ben Esparza (139) finished second in the 5A-II tournament at Maryvale Golf Course in Phoenix. In the process, the Nighthawks won their first state golf title.

Esparza shot a 66 Thursday, the lowest round of the tournament, to help the Nighthawks (589) establish a big gap over runner-up Scottsdale Horizon (607).

"We played so-so yesterday, and today we played really well as a team and ended up running away with it," said coach Ryan Bais.

Esparza set 9- and 18-hole school records this season, and the team shattered both school records, too, Bais said. — Les Willsey, 2008

2009 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Derek Laporte 

School: Tucson High 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: In 5A-I boys action at the Papago Golf Course in Phoenix, Tucson's Derek Laporte finished two strokes from claiming the individual title with a two-day total of 1-over-par 145. — Star staff, 2009

2010 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Gentry Hicks 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: A senior at CDO, Hicks had a meaningful senior golf season, winning the Division II state championship with a 50-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole, and earning a scholarship from the Utah Utes. — Greg Hansen, 2010

2011 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Logan France 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Logan France's game plan on the golf course is pretty simple.

"I just play every shot and try to stay in the moment," France said.

Even in the state tournament?

"Yeah, it's just another tournament," the Canyon del Oro senior said.

France's philosophy worked perfectly Friday in the first round of the Division II state tournament at Randolph North.

The Boise State commit fired a 2-under 70 and has a one-stroke lead on Phoenix Thunderbird's Steve Otlewski.

They were the only two golfers to shoot under par in the first round.

France parred the first 11 holes and then three-putted on the 12th green for his first bogey.

He recovered quickly, picking up birdies on 13, 15 and 16.

"The front nine was stressful," France said. "The front is easier than the back, so I felt like I left some strokes out there early on.

"But, overall it was a good round."

France and the Dorados are in first place in the team standings. The veteran squad, which features three seniors, shot a 290 and has a 16-stroke lead over Thunderbird heading into today's final round.

Salpointe Catholic was tied for third at 312. Catalina Foothills was fifth (316) and Sabino sixth (323).

"We haven't had our A-game all season," France said. "It's good to see that we turned it up at the right time and put ourselves in a good spot heading into the final day.

"That said, we all can play better."

France's teammate, junior Jaime Waltmire, was tied for third with an even 72. Dorados senior Jack Otis was one shot behind at 73 and D.J. Niichel was at 75.

"Everyone on the team is very close and they're all friends, but those guys aren't going to give Logan anything Saturday," CDO coach John Farbarik said. "They'll all put pressure on him and hopefully everybody's play rises."

The Dorados are looking for their second straight state title. Farbarik's squad also had a healthy lead after the opening day in 2010.

However, the coach echoed France and said nothing will change today.

"Lead or no lead, I want our guys to go out there and play the way they always do," Farbarik said. "Of course it's nice to be in the lead, but it doesn't mean a whole lot right now." — Daniel Berk, 2011

2012 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Jaime Waltmire 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: A championship four years in the making came to fruition for Sabino's Billy Comeaux on Tuesday afternoon at Silverbell Golf Course.

Comeaux capped off his high school career with an even-par two-day score of 140 to clinch the Division II title by two strokes. He approached the winner's table, collected his first-place ribbon and smiled. No fist pumps; no celebrating or theatrics.

"That's Billy," Sabino coach Rod Allen said. "Billy is Billy. If he didn't win today, he'd go out and say, 'Let's try it again tomorrow.'"

Comeaux, who played varsity for the Sabercats all four years, had never cracked the top 20 in three previous state tournaments.

On Tuesday, Comeaux not only won with a 1-over 71, he knocked off defending champion Jaime Waltmire to do it. Waltmire, a Canyon del Oro senior, ended in a five-way tie for fifth with a 143 total.

"He played really well today," Waltmire said of Comeaux. "He's a good guy, and he deserved it."

Though humble, Comeaux knows he deserved it, too. He trained extra hard in the offseason in an effort to take his game to the next level.

"I might have taken like two days off all summer," Comeaux said.

As a result, "every facet of his game improved," Allen said.

"It wasn't one main thing that he was lacking. Everything just elevated itself," Allen added. "He's got a lot of upside potential, and that's what's exciting to see. He can even be better than this."

Waltmire, whom CDO coach Jon Farbarik called "maybe the most decorated player I've ever had," entered the day one stroke behind Comeaux.

"I was in perfect position," Waltmire said. "I just had to play a decent round. I just missed a couple short putts, really. That's about it."

The Dorados as a team shot 289 on Monday and entered Round 2 just three strokes behind Phoenix Thunderbird (286).

Much like Waltmire on an individual level, the Dorados collectively played well Tuesday - just not well enough to make a move.

Thunderbird edged CDO 571-578 for the team title, ending the Dorados' string of two consecutive titles. It was Thunderbird's third title but its first since 1991. — Michael J. Craven, 2012

2013 boys golfer of the year 

Name: Chris Meyers 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: For Chris Meyers and Joel Berkson, it was tale of two situations - one ending up a little short and, for the other, elation, even if he finished further behind.

Meyers, a junior at Canyon del Oro, finished just two stokes behind the winner at the state Division II boys golf championship at Aguila Golf Course on Saturday. Sabino's Berkson was another two shots back but felt like a winner after shaving two strokes off his first-day score in the two-day, 36-hole tourney.

"(Friday) I hit the ball fantastic but the score didn't come together," Berkson said. "Today, the score definitely came together and the back nine I let my mental game get a hold of me but it turned out OK."

Meyers finished the two days at even-par 144, behind state champion Austin Stadeli of Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep, who finished at 2-under 142; and Apache Junction sophomore Gage Grimes, who ended at 1 under after reaching 6 under at the turn on Saturday. At one point, Grimes was five strokes ahead of Stadeli, the first-day leader.

Meyers was just one stroke behind Stadeli after Friday's first round but the junior bogeyed three long par-4 holes on the front nine Saturday and could get only one back before finishing at 2-over 74 for the day.

"My putts weren't falling as much today, I wasn't as consistent today," Meyers said. "But I really grinded it out and kept myself in it.

"What I did really well this week was I stuck to my process. I got what I wanted to get done and let things go and stayed with my process, so it was a very good week for me, learning-wise."

As it turned out, the leaders nearly fell back to Meyers. Grimes went 5-over on the back nine and Stadeli bogeyed the 18th to finish the day 1 over 73.

Berkson and fellow Sabercat Matt Spahr were among the few golfers to improve on the first day score. Berkson went 74-72 over the two days while Spahr followed up his first-day 74 with a 73 on Saturday.

"I drained a few bombs out there," Berkson said. "There were a few I left short."

Frankie Wu of CDO finished tied for 11th at 5 over for the tourney while Salpointe's Trevor Werbylo was in 16th at 6 over and Gavin Cohen of Catalina Foothills was 18th at 8 over.

Phoenix Thunderbird, with its four golfers all finishing in the top 10, won the team title at 10-over 586, with Notre Dame five strokes back. CDO (Meyers, Wu, Daniel Rowland, Trevor Gregoire) finished third at 36 over, Salpointe fifth at 44 over and Catalina Foothills sixth at 58 over.

CDO coach John Farbarik said the course was still a bit rough since it is still early in the overseeding season.

"The kids were just trying to have the right speed," Farbarik said. "They were the slowest greens we played all year. So they were just trying to get the right speed and make two putts and then you get one good wiggle and one with go down." — Al Bravo, 2013

2014 boys golfer of the year 

Boys golfer of the year 

Name: Chris Meyers 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys golf 

What he did: The senior led the way as the Dorados finished as the runner-up and Southern Arizona golfers claimed the top three spots at the boys Division II state championship. Meyers, the son of two former UA golfers, shot an 8-under 136 at Aguila Golf Course in Phoenix to win the individual crown by six strokes.

Top performance: Although it wasn’t associated to his high school season, Meyers had a walk-off double-eagle to win the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach with a 22-under 193. The stunning shot earned the No. 2 play on ESPN’s Top 10 that night.

What’s next: Meyers is signed to play golf at Stanford and will be one to keep an eye on as professional golf is surely in his future. However, he said he’s in no hurry to get to that stage and wants to enjoy the college experience with the Cardinal.

Runner-up: Trevor Werbylo, Salpointe Catholic. The sophomore finished second at state behind Meyers with a 2-under 142. Werbylo also ranked second heading into the championship while Meyers was fourth.