Taylor Huschka played his best round of the year, a 5-over-par 77, on the opening day of the OSAA 4A golf championship tournament May 14-15 at the Par 72, 6,468-yard Stone Creek Golf Club in Oregon City,
Huschka and teammate Travis Ramoz were the only two Sweet Home golfers to make the tournament. Huschka, a junior, finished 20th, shooting 77-84-161, while Ramoz, a sophomore, Ramoz finished with a 86-99-185, tied for 69th out of 91 golfers.
“I did better than I thought I would,” Huschka said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Ramoz said he was a little disappointed with his play.
“Both of them played very well the first day,” said Sweet Home Coach Tom Horn. “I was real pleased. Travis overcame couple of bad holes, played really well. Taylor played his best competitive round and had the low score of all Val-Co schools. He played under control. He had just one bad hole on the first day.”
Junior Robbie Pitts of Marist was the state medalist, shooting 75-68 for a 1-under-par 143. Ross Martin of Newport was the Val-Co League’s highest finisher, in a seven-way tie for 11th at 79-78-157.
On the second day, as the second low individual golfer on the first day of the tournament, Huschka played on Day 2 with “a really cool group” of No. 2 players from Marist, Phoenix and Brookings Harbor, all teams that were aiming for the state title, Horn said.
“He showed he belonged,” he said. “He played really well. He was not out of his element by any stretch.”
Ramoz had a rough start on the second day and couldn’t get it turned around, but Horn said the experience was good for him and Huschka, who he expects to be team leaders next year.
“I think it is going to be awesome for next year,” he said. “Our team is going to be better but league is going to be better.”
“I’m really excited about it and I’m really proud of those two guys too,” Horn said. “They competed really well.”
Marist and Phoenix battled for the team title as Marist had the first, fourth and fifth-place finishers, while Phoenix had the second- and third-place finishers, as well as two tied for 11th. Sophomore Daniel Engle (73-71-144) led Phoenix to a team score of 603 to win the title, ahead of Marist’s 613, with Brookings-Harbor third at 651.
Taft was the Val-Co League’s highest finisher , in ninth at 686. Newport was 13th at 743.