Rincon's Armando Villarreal shot a 1-under 71 on Tuesday to earn the 4A-I state golf title. The Sinaloa, Mexico, native waited 90 minutes for word of his victory. "It's stressful," he said.

James Gregg / Arizona Daily Star

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There are no live scoreboards in high school golf, no way to know how a team or player did until it is all over.

More than anything else in high school sports, it is a hurry-up-and-wait ordeal.

So there sat Rincon/University senior Armando Villarreal on Tuesday in the Randolph North Golf Course clubhouse, wondering — praying — that he would end up as the Class 4A-I boys golf state champion.

"It's stressful. I have no idea now what's going on out there," Villarreal said while waiting 90 minutes until his closest competitors finished their rounds.

When the final score of the day was posted — one stroke higher than his championship-winning total of 143 — Villarreal finally let loose a smile.

Waiting had never been so rewarding.

"It's a big surprise," said Villarreal, who shot 1-under-par 71 to clinch the title. "They told me one of the other guys (Catalina Foothills' Merritt Blanks) was doing really well, and it turns out that it was two other guys that almost beat me."

Blanks did finish well, shooting an even-par 72 to tie for sixth overall with a 148. Villarreal's playing partner and first-round leader, Cienega's Roy Patterson, shot a 75 to finish fourth (146).

Jason Shano of Scottsdale Chaparral — part of the day's final group — had a one-stroke lead over Villarreal on the par-4 18th hole, but his approach shot landed in the water in front of the green. Shano then missed a 5-foot putt that would have tied the lead and forced a playoff.

"There was some mud on the top of my ball from my drive," Shano said, who accepted his second-place medal with disappointment emanating from his face. "I tried to put it some place in the middle of the green, but the mud just made it tumble into the water."

Chaparral won the team championship on the strength of 144s from Shano and Zach Baker, giving Shano reason to smile after all.

Sabino finished second overall, 27 strokes back. Catalina Foothills finished third, and Cienega and Phoenix Pinnacle tied for fourth.

Villarreal shot a 2-under 34 on the front nine, then overcame a couple of mishaps on the back end to hold onto the lead. Faced with a tricky downhill, 3-foot birdie putt, Villarreal missed twice before settling for a bogey on the course's highest-handicapped hole.

He then sailed the green with his third shot on No. 16, a 574-yard par 5, and had to chip from a steep slope toward the pin.

It landed within a foot, and he tapped in to save par.

"I just wanted to forget about (the three-putt) and make it up on the next few holes," said Villarreal, a native of Sinaloa, Mexico. "I was hoping to be in the top three."

Patterson had several putts on the back nine skate just around the hole, costing him his lead and a shot at catching Villarreal.

"It was just golf being golf. I didn't feel much pressure," Patterson said. "I was confident all day, but I just didn't score the way I wanted to."