East High Golf (State-Day 1) - Monday, May 22, 2023

Day one of the KSHSAA 6A State Golf tournament is in the books.  In case you didn't make it outside today, it was a spectacular day for golf.  The manager of Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton even described it as a "Chamber of Commerce" type of day, and I couldn't agree more.  Even though the course is difficult, and the wind did pick up slightly as the day progressed, the overall conditions produced some spectacular golf and some low scores.

As previously reported, East High had two golfers qualify for the state tournament, and the first to tee off was Anderson Tung.  I sensed early on that Anderson was a little wound up, and it showed as he started his round bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey.  Five over after three holes is not how you'd draw up the ideal start to any golf tournament, let alone the state tournament.  But on his fourth hole, after putting his tee shot high atop one of Sand Creek's many green-side fescue-covered dunes, Anderson hit an incredible flop shot that would've rolled into the cup if not for the flagstick still being in.  The ball ended up  six inches from the hole, and he was able to tap in for his first par of the day.

Despite a bogey on his next hole, and a nervous second shot on his sixth hole, the turning point came right after that, when he completed a great up-and-down for par.  From there it seemed that a weight was lifted, and he finally began to play a little more free.  After playing his first three holes in five-over, he played his final 15 holes in six-over.  His 11-over 83 was not quite good enough to make the cut to Day 2, but he and I both felt great about the way he finished his round.

I walked with Anderson for the first nine holes, and then shifted to the group behind him for the final nine.  In that group was East High's other state-qualifier, Talen Nasone.  He was two-over par when he made the turn, and what followed was mostly steady golf mixed with the occasional "wow" golf.  His back nine started par, bogey, par, and on his 13th hole, he made another par with a really good up-and-down from about thirty feet away.  Following a birdie on fourteen, he made an incredible sand save on fifteen, and then nearly holed a seventy foot chip for birdie on sixteen.  He did bogey seventeen, but then bounced back with a really nice two-putt for par on eighteen.  He finished with a three-over par 75, which was good enough to help Talen advance to Day 2.

The really fun part for me was having people come up to me during his round and compliment his game.  The coach from Junction City said, "he can really play, can't he?"  When I told him that he is a freshman, he looked stunned and said, "no way."  Two other people who had been following his group also talked to me about him.  In my opinion, what stands out even more than his physical gifts is his maturity.  He never gets too high or too low.  There are professionals who don't carry themselves as well as he does, and people notice.  He was certainly the talk of group.

Despite Talen's solid round, he trails the leaders by seven shots.  I told ya'...there was some spectacular golf today.  Three players are tied at minus-four, and in all, twelve players broke par.  Click here for complete results.

I was proud of how both Anderson and Talen performed today, but what may've warmed my heart the most was what happened right after Talen completed his round.  He had just signed his scorecard, officially completing his round.  Both of them had just been out on the course for nearly five hours, and Sand Creek is no easy walk.  But Anderson asked him, "do you wanna go to the range?"  And Talen said, "yeah".  So they went over and hit more balls.  And then they went back out on the course for another hour to watch Logan Lam from Southeast.  Sure, it was the state tournament.  But in those moments, it was just two kids who love being at the golf course.  Awesome.