Marble Falls golfer Montez finishes season at state tourney

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior golfer Camilo Montez made his Class 4A state tournament debut April 27-28. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

Marble Falls junior golfer Camilo Montez completed his season by competing in the Class 4A state tournament April 27-28.

He finished tied for 62nd with an 81-89–170 and became the first Mustang to compete at the state tournament as an individual since 2002 when Josh Price was the gold medalist.

Head coach Adley Canales is more than familiar with Montez’s personal drive to play his best at every tournament. And Montez is known for his ability to use what he deems as not playing to his standard as fuel, often circling specific tournaments months in advance with an eagerness to return more prepared.

The coach indicated he believes Montez views this state tournament that way.

“Was it up to his standard that he had up to that point?” Canales said. “No, but that doesn’t take away from anything that he accomplished to get there. I told him he earned the right to play on the last day of the year, which not many kids get to do so. That’s huge for us.”

The truth is that while the state tournament course is familiar to the Mustangs — Legends Golf Course and Villas in Kingsland — and is one they have played numerous times, the University Interscholastic League has changes to the course complete with officials strategically placed on it that golfers don’t see anywhere else. Forty spectators follow the golfers from hole to hole, which also is something they don’t experience.

“We’ve never played the state set up,” Canales said. “They make the course a lot longer. They put pins in places we’ve never seen them before. They make the course a true state course. We’ve seen the course a bunch, but we’ve never seen it in that setup. The state tournament is just a different level. If you never played in it, it can be pretty overwhelming from the amount of officials, the amount of monitors on every hole, just the people in the middle of the fairway being spotters the UIL has there to spot golf balls. This is the first time all year where the putting green and the driving range are roped off and you have a wristband to get in and only players and coaches are allowed there. So if you’ve never experienced it, it’s just a different world, it’s completely different than anything that we would have seen all year. And for Camilo’s first time, I thought he handled it extremely well.”

Don’t be surprised to see Montez work on his form and technique in the tee box as he looks to make another run next year, the coach said.

And there’s no doubt that Montez has the proper mentality when it comes to perspective. At the District 24-4A tournament in 2025, he was the leader until the last couple of holes. But when he didn’t close, he used that as motivation for 2026.

“Camillo is really good at taking previous experiences and learning from them,” the coach said. “Just like he did last year at district and turning it into a district title this year. Same thing last year at regionals. He was a few strokes short from going to state, learned from that and was able to get to state (this year). So I have no doubt that he will come back next year with the mindset of learning and being able to perform at that level.”