In less than four weeks, the stretch run in the 2007 Nevada Class 3-A girls' golf title race begins.

The Southern regionals will be played Oct. 11 at The Palms Golf Club in Mesquite, with two-time defending state champion Pahrump Valley leading the seven-team field.

Also entered at Mesquite are homestanding Virgin Valley, along with Las Vegas Faith Lutheran, Overton Moapa Valley, Boulder City, West Wendover and Ely White Pine. The last two are 2-A schools, but will be included in the 3-A golf playoffs.

There are also West and East playoffs, to be played simultaneously at The Golf Club at Fernley Oct. 11.

In the West section will be Dayton, Incline, Mineral County Hawthorne, North Tahoe, Reno Sage Ridge, Sparks, Truckee (Calif.), and Zephyr Cove Whittell.

The East section includes Battle Mountain, Fernley, Winnemucca Lowry, Round Mountain, Spring Creek, Wells and Yerington.

In most sports, Hawthorne, Whittell, Battle Mountain and Yerington are 2-A schools. Sage Ridge, Round Mountain and Wells are in Class A.

The top two teams from each section and the top five players not on qualifying teams will advance to the state tournament, to be contested Oct. 16-17 at Palm Valley Golf Club in Del Webb's Sun City-Summerlin community.

Palm Valley will play at par 72, 5,502 yards. Players will take off from the red tees; the front nine is par 36, 2,683 yards, while the back nine is 2,819 yards at par 36.

Tee time on Oct. 16 is 11 a.m., with 10 a.m. will be the start on Oct. 17.