UNM's Clark Sonnenberg rolls to Albuquerque City Championship win

When Clark Sonnenberg was 12, he won the net flight of the Albuquerque City Championship — no small deal for one of the metro area’s finest junior golfers.

“I wanted to win the championship flight after that, but I was really happy back then,” the incoming sophomore golfer at New Mexico said Sunday. “It was one of the bigger tournaments I had won in my life at that point.”

Seven years later, the Albuquerque native got another win to remember.

Sonnenberg won the 84th Annual Greater Albuquerque Men’s City Golf Championship, carding a five-under 67 during Sunday’s final round at Los Altos Golf Course to finish at 13-under on the week.

The Albuquerque Academy graduate led from the opening round at Ladera Golf Course, shooting a 6-under 66 Friday and a 2-under 70 Saturday at Arroyo Del Oso. He finished seven strokes ahead of incoming UNM freshman Thayer Plewe (-6) in second and third-place Grady Cox (-5), the latter a Belen High School graduate.

Andrew Romero (-4) and Andrew Pineda (-2) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Only the top five finishers scored under-par on the week; Sonnenberg led the field with 16 made birdies.

After playing his way into UNM’s rotation late last season, Sonnenberg has his first tournament win in over a year. He said his driving and the weekend’s results showed him his game is in the “right spot” entering his sophomore year.

“It’s a perfect momentum boost right before school starts to know that I still got some good golf in me,” Sonnenberg added. “Definitely playing in college helped, helped me be able to come out and win it.”

Sonnenberg also rekindled one of the metro area’s finer prep rivalries Sunday.

He was paired with Cox for the final round, the first time either had played against each other in three years.

Sonnenberg and Cox, two of the area’s best rising golfers in recent years, played in the same junior golf league growing up.

“We were kind of rivals all throughout high school,” Sonnenberg said. “ … (Cox has) gotten more consistent, and he used to always be good for a couple under-par. But I feel like now he’s able to go low if he gets his putter rolling, which is good to see.”

“Obviously (Sonnenberg’s) a really great driver of the golf ball,” Cox said Sunday. “He hits it really hard. I mean, his iron play today was just spot-on – I don’t think he really missed it in a spot where he couldn’t.”

Other results

In the president’s flight, Gregory Larson won the city championship by three strokes, firing a two-under 70 Sunday at Los Altos to finish at three-over on the week.

Keith Sena (+6) and Brian Chavez (+8) finished second and third, respectively.