Holmes’ individual title leads Vaqueros to state golf championship

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

Sitting at the scorer’s table at the clubhouse of the Mountain Falls Golf Course in Pahrump after completing his second round last Wednesday in the 3A State Boys Golf Championships, Jacob Holmes knew only that he had a one-stroke lead and that Dayton’s Troy Kepler was putting for a birdie on the 18^th green for a tie that would force a one-hole playoff.

Holmes had finished his round with a 78 to complete the two-day tournament with a total score of 155 and knew he was one stroke ahead of Kepler, who was playing in the group behind him. But under high school rules, Holmes was obligated to report to the clubhouse to verify his scores with the course monitor after finishing his round, so he wasn’t able to watch for himself to see whether he would win or have to play another hole. It was while he was walking toward the clubhouse that he learned that Kepler had reached the green of the par-4 18^th hole in two shots and had a 12-foot birdie putt, from very close to the same spot where Holmes himself had missed a birdie putt before tapping in for par to finish his round.

Suddenly, Holmes heard and saw his teammates running toward the clubhouse.

“While I’m over there signing my scorecard, I’m just nervous,” Holmes said. “My teammates saw him miss the putt and they came running to me.”

After finishing second at state last year and seventh as a sophomore in 2022, Holmes, who has committed to play in college at Bushnell College in Eugene, Ore., finished his high school career as the 2024 3A state champion, while the Vaqueros beat Fallon by three strokes to win the team championship. Homes is the second Fernley player to win a state title, after Brandon Dalton in 2008, and the team championship is Fernley’s first ever in boys golf.

“It was probably one of the best days of my life, a great feeling,” Holmes said. “And the team won, it was just amazing.”

Fernley had placed second as a team at state last year, and third in 2022 on the same course as this year. Holmes and Davis were each competing in their third state tournament, Knutson said he told them and fellow senior Emery Gertson that their experience would make the difference if the Vaqueros were going to win.

“I said man, you guys have put the work in, you guys deserve this,” Knutson said.

The Vaqueros were tied with Fallon for the team lead after the first round of the tournament, and Holmes was the individual leader at 77, after Cooper Glendon of The Meadows was disqualified. Glendon had shot a 74 in the first round, but it was reported that he had illegal tracking tape on his clubs, and he didn’t return to the course after a rules monitor asked to inspect his clubs.

Although he had the lead, Holmes wasn’t entirely satisfied with himself after the first round. Based on the winning scores of the past few years, Holmes figured he needed to shoot 75 on both days to win. But on one par-5 hole on the back nine of the first round, Holmes hit his first shot out of bounds, then his second tee shot went to the same area and he wasn’t able to find the ball.

“He’s just distraught to where he was one over par and now he’s hitting five off the tee on a par 5,” Knutson said.

Holmes hit his third tee shot to about the same area as the first two, but got a favorable bounce back into the fairway. He then hit onto the green from 280 yards with a 3-wood and then hit one chip and one putt to shoot an 8.

“He could have easily, if he wasn’t mentally strong, let that derail him from there,” Knutson said. “His response to that showed a lot of maturity, to me, because you’re trying to make a birdie on a par 5 and you end up with an 8, then the next two holes were difficult holes and he comes out with par and par on the next two holes.”

Holmes felt that he had been pulling his irons to the left, so he hit the driving range for some practice and was the last player to leave.

“The next day I stayed confident, stayed committed with the shots because I had worked my swing out the day before,” he said.

Still, he started the second round with bogeys on the first two holes, while another player in his group started with two pars, so Holmes was one stroke behind the leader going to the third hole.

“Obviously the nerves kicked in,” Holmes said. “I wanted to win this tournament very bad and I was just like calm down, take deep breaths, stay committed to the shot.”

While other players in his own group started to fall off the pace, Holmes had no idea how anyone else was playing until the 15^th hole. Knutson was tracking scores on the Golf Genius app, and he told Holmes on the 15^th hole that he was two shots behind Kepler.

“So I knew I had to finish strong, because golf under pressure, it’s pretty tough, man,” Holmes said. “I was just trying to stay committed to every shot. It just made me super nervous, but it just like focused me in a little bit more knowing that I have to make something happen.”

At the same time, Knutson was also tracking the team scores. Each Fernley player was in a different group, and when Holmes reached the 13^th hole Knutson saw that Fernley was in third place, four shots behind Fallon and two behind Elko, with one Fernley player on each the last six holes of the course.

“I decided to back through the groups one at a time, and all I told them is it’s really close, you need to focus on beating the Fallon kid in your group,” Knutson said. “I told each kid if you can beat the Fallon kid in your group, you’re going to be just fine.”

Knutson then decided to follow Holmes for the rest of the way and when Holmes reached the 16^th hole, Fernley and Fallon were again tied for the lead and Elko had fallen seven shots behind.

Noah Davis made a bridie on 18, which put Fernley in the lead by the time Holmes stepped up to the 17^th tee.

“So then it’s just, holy moly, all Jake’s got to do is just continue to at least stay even with the Fallon kid in his group and we’re going to win,” Knutson said.

Coming to the 18^th hole, Holmes had moved one shot ahead of Kepler for the individual lead. Knutson figured by then that if Holmes hit a par on 18 ,he would probably win the individual title and the Vaqueros would be the team champions.

“He striped it down the middle, hit it on the green to about 20 feet and then two-putted for a par, so at that point we were pretty sure we won as a team, but we needed to get up to the actual official scorer’s area to know for sure,” Knutson said. “The Dayton kid hit the green in two and had a putt in a similar area to where Jake was and he needed a putt to force a playoff and he missed, so that sealed Jake as the individual champion and sealed the team victory for us.”

Davis was Fernley’s second-best scorer for the tournament with a two-day total of 162 to place third overall. He shot 78 in the second round after an 84 in the first round. Luke Stanger was Fernley’s third scorer with a total of 175, shooting 89 in the first round and 86 in the second round.

Emery Gertson shot 95 both days to finish tied for 34^th place, while Jason Heimbruch shot 191 over the two days to tie for 36^th. But after shooting 101 in the first round, Heimbruch shot 90 in the second round, not only improving his score by 11 points, but after not being among the team’s top four scorers in the first round, he was the team’s third best in the second round. That saved the Vaqueros five strokes in the team score and ended up being the difference between winning the team title or placing second.

“I just couldn’t be prouder of these guys,” coach Cade Knutson said. “They have cemented themselves into the history of this school being the first team (to win state).”