All George Murphy and the Park City High School golf team do is win.
The two-time defending 3A state champions, the Miners look to have a promising shot at a third straight title this season.
Park City, which dominated Region 10 play all season long, ran away with the title officially last week in Provo. In the region tournament, the Miners had 10 of their 12 golfers shoot in the 70s, something that the head coach, Murphy, couldn’t believe.
“I don’t think we’ve ever done that,” he said. “We have tremendous depth. We have kids ready to step up.”
Depth is one thing. Building a dynasty is another.
The Miners have finished second, first and first, respectively in 3A in the last three years. Murphy noted that while there are four seniors who are going to be lost to the team at the end of the season, his younger players are more than ready to address the challenge.
“We have some of these seniors who have been part of a pretty good run,” Murphy said. “It helps to have these seniors come state tournament time, too.”
The region tournament, which took place at East Bay Golf Course last Thursday, saw Matt Vanleeuwen as the only player in Region 10 this season to shoot an under-par score. Vanleeuwen shot a 71, which was one under par. The Miners shot a combined 299 at East Bay, with Wasatch following with a total of 307.
On Park City’s senior-laden team, sophomore Justin Shluker has been an eye-opener this season.
Shluker shot a 76 at East Bay and earned first place in the overall region individual standings on the year. Vanleeuwen took third, with seniors Michael Coopman (fifth) and Ryan Kearns (sixth) rounding out the medalists.
Murphy and the team held an 18-hole playoff between three Park City players Tuesday to see which player would take the sixth and final spot to go to the 3A state championship this year.
While the Miners are no doubt the favorite to complete a three-peat in 3A this season, Murphy knows old rival Judge Memorial will be gunning for them.
“Judge will be back and try to knock us off,” Murphy said. “We beat them last year at state by one stroke. They wanted it so bad, but we won.”
Tomorrow the Miners will host the inaugural Park City Invitational at Park Meadows Golf Course. The competing teams will be Wasatch, Uintah, Park City and 4A Timpanogos.
Next Friday, Oct. 1, Park City will head south to St. George to take on Dixie High School in a head-to-head match to prepare for this year’s state championship, which will be held in St. George.
The state championship is a two-day event that will be held Oct. 18-19.
“We want to get our guys familiar with the course before state,” Murphy said.