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Devil’s Thumb puts the hurt on golfers

Ian Cropp

DELTA – Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley golfers say it’s called Devil’s Thumb golf course for a reason. Well, a few reasons.”Between the bees, the heat and the climbs, it was a doosey,” said Battle Mountain coach Cassie Desmone. “Considering all the obstacles, our team did pretty well.”The Devils didn’t feel at home on the course. In fact, they found it to be quite unforgiving.”Across the board, the scores were higher,” said Eagle Valley head coach Glen Ewing. “The pin placements were tough, the greens were light and fast, but the course is the same for everybody.”With scores in the 90s, the Devils finished in the middle of the pack of 10 teams.Battle mountain shot a combined 245, to earn a second place tie. Placing for the Huskies were Derek Rush, Clay Wilson, and Zach Domenico, who shot 81, 81 and 83, respectively. John Ryan Melzer and Matt Berry also played the course, but their scores were not used.”The kids complain about having to walk the Eagle-Vail course, but it paid off today,” Desmone said. Battle Mountain practices at the Eagle-Vail golf course.Desmone was happy with her team’s concentration, considering they had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and were paired up with “some not very good players.”Progress reportPrior to Devil’s Thumb, most Eagle Valley golfers shot in the 80s.”Right now we are better than we have been in the past (few years),” said Eagle Valley golfer Zach Coe. “Some younger guys are getting lower scores and keeping older guys in competition. We need to hit some more greens in regulation and keep the ball in the fairway a little better.”On Thursday, Coe, Jamison Bair, Brian Matthews, Bryan Brennan and Chris Brubeck shot 95, 89, 93, 99 and 111, receptively.Bair, who broke 70 at Montrose, is happy with the way the younger players are contributing.”The freshman are leading the team,” Bair said. “Bryan (Brennan), Brian (Matthews) and I have been playing well, and we are trying to get some more of the freshman experience.”Both teams return to the tees today at Cedaredge. Eagle Valley will play some younger golfers to continue grooming their talent, while Battle Mountain will play the same five from Thursday.”They are going to work on resting tonight,” Desmone said. “I like the improvement I’ve seen so far, and I plan on taking Derek (Rush), Zach (Domenico) and Clay (Wilson) to the regional playoffs.”Sports writer Ian Cropp can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 608 or via icropp@vaildaily.comVail, Colorado


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