South Tahoe High’s boys golf team found hard ground and even harder going in its first conference outing Monday at the Washoe County Golf Course.

“We did not play up to our potential,” said South Tahoe head coach Mike Patterson, whose team finished ninth in the 13-team field.

“That’s not what we were looking for in the first match.”

The hard ground at the Reno course caused several of South Tahoe’s shots to bounce over their targets into trouble. The top four Vikings shot a combined 445 – 42 over the pace of winner Reno.

“Our kids had a lot of trouble with our balls hitting greens and bouncing out of bounds and into hazards, things like that,” Patterson said.

Reno, which finished five strokes ahead of second-place Carson, had no such troubles on Monday.

“Reno’s been good forever,” Patterson said. “Washoe’s their course, so they practice it every day. They were way more (adept) at the bump-and-run shots.”

Sean Fannan’s 86 led South Tahoe, and Patrick Curtis was the only other Viking to score under 90. He had an 87. The top eight teams on the season qualify for the zone tournament, and Wooster finished ahead of South Tahoe with a 441 combined score.

“It doesn’t by any means ruin our chances at zone,” Patterson said. “We just need to play better in the next five weeks.”

South Tahoe’s conference schedule continues with a match at Furnace Creek on Monday.