Girls golf coach prepares to defend amateur title

By Brent Hinckley

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008 | midnight

The Women’s Southern Nevada Golf Association Amateur tournament is considered the crown jewel for local women golfers, and Boulder City’s Regina Quintero is out to defend her crown.

“I’m going to try to defend, but my major problem is I haven’t been able to work on my own game a lot,” said Quintero, who coaches Boulder City High’s girls golf team and is the school’s athletic director.

Nearly 60 women will tee off in the amateur at Silverstone Golf Club on Aug. 23 and 24. Quintero won the title last year at Angel Park Golf Club by shooting a two-day 157 to beat Las Vegan Liz Carroll, the 1999 tournament winner, by one stroke.

“I play in the BC Women’s Golf Association, so I see a lot of the women who I’ll be playing,” Quintero said. “It’s going to come down to a couple of strokes. It’s always that close.”

The championship is considered to be the biggest tournament for women in Southern Nevada, tournament director Margie Bowgren said.

“This is our major, so naturally it’s the biggest draw we get,” Bowgren said. “It’s always a great tournament to watch, and it usually comes down to the wire.”

This is the tournament’s 37th annual competition, having started in 1971. Quintero is looking to become the first back-to-back winner since Las Vegan Laurie Johnson won in 2003 and 2004.

“It would be great to win it again, but I know how tough it is to put together 36 holes of great golf,” Quintero said.

This will be her fourth time playing in the tournament. Her previous best finish was fourth place in 2006.

“We have this and our state amateur, but that’s during school, so this is the big one for me,” Quintero said. “This will be a tough one, because I haven’t had a lot of time to practice.”

Brent Hinckley is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 948-2074 or [email protected].