After what Coach Pat Davis described as their worst round of the season, Sweet Home’s boys bounced back Monday, May 2, with their best round of the season, finishing with a team score of 405 at Tokatee to place fifth in a 10-team field.
All but one of the Huskies had a season-best score, he said. The only one who didn’t, sophomore Seth Wright, shot a 99, three off the 96 he shot at Agate Beach three weeks ago.
Freshman Jackson Lynn finished with a team-best 95, which included a near-hole in one.
“He missed it by a foot,” Davis said. “He got pictures. He also made the putt.”
Sophomore Jake Hindmarsh finished with a 99, breaking 100 for the first time this year, and senior Cameron Lucas shot 112, his best round ever by six strokes.
“All four boys played very well,” Davis said, noting that they finished three strokes behind Cascade, a team that had been beating the Huskies by “40 or 50 strokes all year.”
The Huskies played as badly last Wednesday, April 27, at Sutherlin as they played well Monday, he said.
“Horrible. It was our worst round of the year.”
Hindmarsh carded a 103, but the rest of the team scores weren’t printable, he said.
“I won’t even tell you how we finished” against the other nine teams in the district. “They were upset. They were not happy.”
The recovery made him happy, Davis said.
“That’s the kind of improvement we’re looking for. These guys are young. We just want them to get better every week.”
The team goal at the beginning of the season was to finish under 400 and they are close as the district tournament approaches on Monday and Tuesday, May 9-10, also at Tokatee.
The Huskies shot 472 at Tokatee in their first round of the year.
“We’re not expecting to qualify, but we’re hoping to get under 400,” he said.
The girls did not play last week and will not play a competitive round again until Monday, when their two-day district tournament starts at Santiam Country Club in Stayton.
Sophomores Haley May and Alayna Davis will be joined by freshman Nichole Grady and sophomore Liz Chelstad, who have played at the JV level thus far this season. May and Davis, however, have emerged into two of the better female golfers in the district.
May shot 102 on April 25 in a pre-district match at Santiam despite a bad hole on the back nine, while Davis, who shot a 12 on one hole on the backstretch, finished with 107.
On April 22 at Chinook Winds in Lincoln City, both showed what they are capable of, May shooting a 95 to finish second in a field of 40 mostly district golfers and Davis finishing fifth with a 101.
Pat Davis said that could mean big things for the Huskies if they all play as well as they can.
“We are going to send four girls, a full team,” he said.
“If Haley and Alayna play really well and the others play as well as they can, they could qualify for state because North Marion is the only other school in the league that has more than one good player.”