Chico >> Jackson Bragg’s parents took a trip to Belize, but the Chico High senior would rather play golf.
Bragg skipped out on the family trip to play in the second Eastern Athletic League match of the year where he tied for the lowest score of the field, shooting a 2-over-par 74 Thursday afternoon at Bidwell Park Golf course.
Foothill’s Caleb Martin also shot a 74.
Bragg shot a front-9 35 and a back-9 39 to round out the day.
“I hit the ball really solid. Didn’t put myself in any places to get me in trouble,” Bragg said. “I gave myself looks. It was a solid round overall but I need to clean some stuff up around the green.”
Bragg has come in with a fresh, relaxed mindset heading into the season. After graduation, he’ll be playing golf for Irvine Valley College, a junior college in Southern California.
“It’s pressure free,” Bragg said. “The weight is off my shoulders and I can finally play.”
His ultimate goal is to eventually play for a Division I program. His goal for his senior season is to capture an EAL title, a division title and hopefully qualify for the state tournament.
“The scores will get really low soon hopefully,” Bragg said. “We have to peak in about three weeks when we’re at Riverview.”
It was a good day overall for the senior Panther, but Foothill had the lowest team score.
Foothill shot a 406 and was led by Martin’s 74. Sean Salyer shot an 83, Justin Youngman and Jake Shaw each carded an 85, and Justice Perri shot a 79. Chico finished second at 413, followed by Shasta’s 428 and Red Bluff’s 478.
PV had two disqualifications on the back nine which negated its team score.
However, Ronak Singh led the Vikings, carding a 78. Singh, shot a 37 on the front-9 and a 41 on the back-9, but said he struggled on the greens, missing a handful of putts.
“I missed a lot of short putts, five or six inside 8 feet. That kind of hurt my score,” Singh said. “Missed a lot of the birdie putts. My putting needs a little bit of work. But I hit the ball all day.”
The PV senior sank a putt on No. 2 for birdie.
“That was pretty nice,” Singh said.
Chase Fleshman carded an 85 for PV while Caden Holochwost and Cody Coy each shot an 87, but Drew Stillwell and Matt Helton were both disqualified on the back-9.
Chico’s Brayden Russo, playing in the No. 1 group, struggled on the day, shooting an 84.
“I started off fine. Had a really bad hole on 9… sanked it into the hazard and had a good recovery,” Russo said. “Hole 11 was quite a blowup. Tried to hold on till the end, but it was a struggle.”
Greg Williams carded an 83, Drew Rose an 87, and Kaiden Eller and Hunter Dougherty each carded an 86 to round out the Panthers’ day.
Foothill remains in the lead in the EAL standings, followed by PV in second place, Chico in third, Red Bluff in fourth, Shasta in fifth and Enterprise in sixth.
Red Bluff’s Kurtis Rodriguez shot a 78 to lead the Spartans, and Jason Deaver shot an 84 to lead the Hornets.
The next EAL match will be at Gold Hills in Redding on April 19.
Connect with Sports Writer Sharon Martin at 896-7778.
