Sweet Home’s golfers finally got a chance to host their own tournament Tuesday, April 24, then followed that up with tune-ups for the district meet.
Both the boys and girls played mixed-team scrambles at Mallard Creek which, Coach Pat Davis said, provided a break in the normal stroke-play season the Huskies have been playing. Plus, he said, he was able to match the boys with players they don’t normally compete against.
“They had a ton of fun,” he said. “That was the response from the other coaches.”
The girls played a nine-hole mixed team scramble at Mallard Creek with Sutherlin and a single Cascade golfer.
The top two boys teams finished tied at 69, three under par. Sweet Home’s Seth Wright played on one of those teams.
“They started from the white tees,” Davis said. “If they birdied a hole, they had to move back. If they bogeyed it, they had to move up. Most of the teams played from the pro tees at one point in the round.
The kids enjoyed it, the coaches enjoyed it. It broke up the monotony.”
Davis said the girls didn’t need a match play round at Mallard Creek because both Rebekah Fassler and Lexi Schilling qualified for district the day before at Santiam Golf Club.
Fassler carded a 120, and Schilling at 125, both their best rounds ever. Haley May finished with a 94, followed by Nichol Grady (102) and Brook Womack (115).
“Haley is starting to come back around,” Davis said. “Nichol was right where we want her to be and Brook shot a solid 116.”
Their team score of 430 was good for third, behind Taft – “clearly the No. 1 team,” and Salem Academy, which has taken on a player from Blanchet Catholic, which “suddenly makes Salem Academy really good,” Davis said.
At Agate Beach in Newport on Monday, April 30, May shot 97, followed by Grady (109), Womack (117) and Fassler (127).
The Huskies finished second behind Waldport, which, Davis said, is likely to give the Huskies a run for a state berth at the district meet next Monday and Tuesday, May 6-7, at Santiam.
Freshman Brayden Keesee led the boys at Santiam Friday, April 27, with an 87 to place fourth overall in a tournament involving all the district teams.
Jake Hindmarsh was eighth with an 89, followed by Seth Wright, who bounced back from a couple of “bad rounds” to shoot a 96, Davis said. Freshman Christopher May shot 103 and Carson Smith shot 109 for a team score of 376, second behind Stayton, which shot its best round of the year, a 332.
Cascade was one shot behind the Huskies at 377.
“Anytime I can get tow guys in the 80s, we’re going to be there,” Davis said. “We were right there with Cascade.”
On Monday, April 30, the Huskies played the Robinson Memorial tournament, hosted by Oakridge at Tokatee in Cottage Grove, where the district tournament will be held May 6-7.
Sweet Home was the only 4A school in the small-school tournament, which nonetheless featured some top teams, including Bandon, which won with a 313.
“Their No. 1 player is a freshman who is one of the top junior players in the U.S.,” Davis said. “They shot 70-75-85-85.”
Sweet Home was second with a 401.
“I’m not in love with that score, but it doesn’t kill me,” Davis said. He said the greens were “about college-level – mowed and rolled” earlier in the day.
“They were tough as could be. The kids struggled a little.”
Hindmarsh finished with a 91, followed by Zak Fox (101), Keesee (103), and Carson Smith (106).
Fox and Smith will play a 12-hole qualifier Friday, May 4, to determine Sweet Home’s fifth district team member.