The wind was up, but golfers across West Texas expect that day in and day out.

What the Permian Black team was shooting for, however, was its scores to go down as the gusts increased during the final round of the West Texas Classic Saturday at Ratliff Ranch Golf Links — which, of course, is exactly what happened.

With four of its five golfers shooting 75 or below, led by Tyler Trotter’s 3-under-par 69, the Panthers carded a second-round 289 (1-over par) to catch and pass first-round leader Amarillo High to win the West Texas Classic.

Permian finished 301-289—590 for the victory, with the Sandies at 299-298—597 for second place. El Paso Franklin (306-310—616) and Wolfforth Frenship (308-308—616) tied for third.

Individually, Austin Escamilla of Midland Trinity earned medalist honors with a pair of 1-under-par 71s over 36 holes. 

Trotter (75-69—144) pulled into a tie for second with San Angelo Central’s Jansen Smith (70-74—144), with Smith winning a playoff for second place.

“That was a great win,” Permian coach Gerald Huddleston said. “The kids stepped up; we had some young players come through for us today.

“Tyler with a great day and Jayden Chavez at No. 2 did great, too. And to have three players in the top 10 is great for the program this early in the season.”

In the team standings, Permian’s White team finished 11th at 679 (340-339), with Odessa High I (347-344—691) and Odessa High II (421-405—826) finished 14th and 19th, respectively.

The biggest challenge for most of the competitors was the increased breezes that started from the south at the beginning of the round and then switch midway through to come in from the west.

That put both of the closing holes at Ratliff Ranch into the wind and caused many of the players who normally would have birdie or eagle chances on No. 17 or No. 18 having to settle for pars on both holes.

Escamilla admitted altering his philosophy when he stood on the tee at No. 18.

“I had planned to hit one drive but when I got up there, with the wind in our face and a little left to right, I changed things up and played a little more safely,” he said. “You can’t take a chance there and get the ball into the wind because it will end up in the water.

“I battled today; I had a double (bogey) and triple (bogey) on the front, so to get back to 1-under was nice. It feels great to win because this is a good tournament with a lot of tough players.”

The tournament featured 21 teams from all over West Texas and the Panhandle.

Huddleston said that he and Odessa High coach Alvin Seybert will be looking for ways to improve the event, even as they accepted congratulations and promises from the other schools to return next year.

“You can always find ways to tweak things,” Huddleston said. “We are trying to bring in as many good teams to play that we can, to give the kids some great competition early in the year, which is what this tournament did this year.”
