Sweet Home’s boys kicked their golf season off by beating their best team score from last year by eight strokes – on the same course, at Tokatee in Cottage Grove – on March 13.
And that was in rather miserable conditions, “though I can’t say that,” Coach Pat Davis said.
In non-stop rain, the Huskies shot a 371, led by senior Jake Hindmarsh’s 88. Behind him were freshmen Chris May and Brayden Keesee and senior Seth Wright, all of whom shot 95s to pace Sweet Home to a fourth-place finish among nine teams.
“We were pretty excited about that,” Davis said. “The guys didn’t shoot great, but nobody shot bad. The conditions were not great.”
Playing fifth for the Huskies was senior Zak Fox, who shot 54 for the first nine holes and got to play six more under rules set down before the match started, Davis said.
The varsity girls, without Lexi Schilling, who is injured, played March 14 at Crooked River Ranch.
Senior Haley May shot a 101, which placed her in a tie for seventh among the 40 golfers from eight schools, five of them 5A Bend-area teams.
“That is competitive, but not indicative,” Davis said of May’s finish, noting that he expects her to be much improved before the season is over.
Junior Nicole Grady shot a 123 and sophomore Brook Womack finished four strokes back, which put them right in the middle of the field, Davis said.
“Both of their scores were very competitive.”
The junior varsity boys and three of the girls also played Friday, March 16, at Fiddler’s Green, an 18-hole par-3 course outside of Junction City, where the Huskies hosted girls and JV boys from seven other schools.
May was low scorer for all of the Huskies, finishing all by herself on the girls side with a 70.
Fox and sophomore Kolton Hanson both shot 77, which put them at the low end of the boys field as well, though two varsity golfers who made the trip “to get some holes,” as Davis put it, finished in the 60s. Sophomore Carson Smith finished with an 87.
Davis said all the three finished in the top five.
Grady shot an 88 and Womack an 89 – “huge leaps for them from last year,” Davis said. Rebekah Fassler finished with 100, he said.
Fiddler’s Green was the first round ever for freshmen Emma Powell and Marin Weld, who “shot high scores” but finished 18 holes, he said. “For beginners, that was exciting.”
The entire girls team played Monday afternoon at Salem Country Club and will play again Thursday, March 22, on the Challenge course at Eagle Crest, which will be a varsity-only competition.
The boys will also play on Thursday at Oak Hill in Sutherlin, which is a change in location and date, Davis noted.