Looks can be deceiving.

As soon as South Tahoe Kyle Mazzoni set foot on the Tournament Players Club of Las Vegas site on Monday morning, he was enamored. But hidden in the beauty of the venue for the Nevada 4A state boys' golf tournament were slick greens and deep rough.

Still, Mazzoni was able to adapt and shoot a first-round 79 in the 36-hole event.

"This course is the hardest course I've ever played, by far," Mazzoni said. "Nothing that I would have played would have prepared me for this.

"It was like a pro course ... the fastest greens I ever played. I had to adjust everywhere. The greens were hard and fast and the rough was deep. If you just touched your putt, it went past the hole."

South Tahoe coach Mike Patterson thought Mazzoni made good adjustments to the difficult setup.

"He played real solid. He made some bogeys but didn't make any doubles," Patterson said. "He had some great up and downs, just a real solid round on a pretty tough golf course that he had never seen before."

When all of the strokes were compiled, Mazzoni was in an 18th-place tie and only six strokes behind leader Tad Darland, a freshman from Coronado.

Only three golfers from the North fared better than Mazzoni: Spanish Springs' Scott Kelly and Ren Wilson, each shot 76, and Elko's Ryan Blair was at 77.

Spanish Springs sits in third place in the teams standings, 11 strokes behind Coronado and nine behind Palo Verde.

No STHS golfer has ever placed in the top 25. Dan D'Angelo shot rounds of 77 and 84 to tie for 34th place in 2003.

Mazzoni, who finished fifth in last week's Northern 4A regional championships, will tee off at 1:23 p.m. today for his final round.

"I am excited for tomorrow. I just have to make a few adjustments for the greens," Mazzoni said.