Arcadia stands out at Arizona Fall Preview Golf Invite

August 29, 2020 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Highland's Trevor Grenier putts on the 18th hole in Saturday's second round of the Arizona Fall Preview Golf Invite at Grand Canyon University Golf Course. (AzPreps365 photo).

Arcadia's Gavin Aurilia didn't have the day Saturday he took delight in on Friday at the annual Arizona Fall Preview Golf Invitational.

The better news - from Aurilia's point of view - is his teammates picked up the slack and showed the Titans are itching to get back to the top of the Divison II boys golf summit.

"I have a couple goals," Aurilia said. "One is to repeat as individual champion, but the other is to win state as a team. That's the most important one. Yesterday (Friday) our three-through-five guys didn't play their best. Today they were much better. I think as a team we scored better this round. That's what you want."

Aurilia's 6-under 65 on Friday allowed him a substantial lead that noone was able to challege on Saturday. The senior finished 7-under for the tournament, managing a 1-under 70 to win medalist honors. He was the only golfer in the 14-team field to best par both rounds.

"Both days were extremely hot," Aurilia said. "Yesterday I hit it way better than today. Today I just managed my way around."

Indeed, three of Arcadia's four scoring players bettered their rounds of Friday on Saturday. Fellow Titans' senior Ethan Klose shot 71-70 for the two days and teammates Parker Bond (76-70) and Jack Peters (76-75) also upped their scores. As a team Arcadia was three strokes better than Friday, much of that due to Aurilia's 6-under total. Klose tied for second with steady Thunderbird senior Daniel Thompson at 141. Thompson was one of two players to shoot two-under 69 on Saturday. The other was Horizon's Paul Kandler, who tied for fourth with Highland's Dallin Delgado at 143.

Arcadia's Gavin Aurilia tees off to begin his back-nine Saturday on the way to winning the Arizona Fall Preview. (AzPreps365 photo)

With Arcadia playing so well on a still hot and muggier day on Saturday, Desert Mountain wasn't up to the challenge of notching the team crown. Arcadia finished with a team score of  573. Desert Mountain, which trailed Arcadia by just four strokes as the second round began, hung on to second. Its second-round 304 made its total 596. Horizon nearly slipped past Desert Mountain finishing at 598. Rounding out the top five teams are fourth-place Highland 606 and fiifth-place Red Mountain 610.

Rounding out the top 10 finishers are Desert Mountain's Jake Webb and Highland's Trevor Grenier(144); Arcadia's Bond (146) and Red Mountain's Carter Wilkes and Prescott's Chance Hill (147).