Two years after a fifth-place regional finish left Palo Verde boys golf coach Justin Williams frustrated, the Panthers have found the missing piece: freshman Tripp Hildreth.
Hildreth entered this week ranked third individually in the Desert League, and Palo Verde is tied with defending champion Coronado for first place in team standings with two league matches remaining. The freshman has finished no worse than fifth in his first three league starts, including a 3-under 68 that earned a share of first with Coronado’s Brent Chung last week at Rhodes Ranch.
“I had a feeling Tripp was going to make a pretty good impact because my seniors had been around him,” Williams said. “I just didn’t know he was going to be in the mix immediately like this.”
Hildreth, who has been playing golf since age 2 and competing since 5, said his focus is on keeping teammates loose. “I try to make it fun for my teammates. If they’re having a fun time out there, they play better,” he said.
His presence has lifted the entire lineup. Wynn Roongphornchai ranks sixth in the league, and Matthew Maurice holds eighth. The Panthers have beaten Coronado once and finished close second in the other two meets, building confidence as the postseason approaches.
“We still have a few hiccups, but we’ve had a couple guys step up and be more consistent,” Williams said. “We could really be on track to doing something now. We’d love to get the team to state. But we don’t just want to get there, we want to get it done. We feel like we can do it.”
Hildreth has set his sights high: “I think if we all play well, we can win state. And I think I can pull off the (individual) title.” To do so, he would have to outduel Coronado’s quartet of Anderson Lee, Jiho Park, Sam Bennett and Chung.
The Southern Region tournament is May 6-7 at Mountain Falls, with the state championship a week later at Boulder Creek. Williams has a month to fine-tune his squad.
