East High Golf (State-Day 2) - Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The 2023 golf season wrapped up on Tuesday, May 23, and it was another gorgeous day at Sand Creek Station.  The last man standing for East High was Talen Nasone, the lone member of our squad to advance to Day 2 of the tournament.  Talen was sitting at three-over par after Day 1, and my son Will, who joined me for both days, asked if I thought Talen could win.  Being seven shots back, I knew it was unlikely, but I told him if Talen shoots his best round of the year, and some of the leaders regress a little, then yeah, it was possible.Things looked promising early on.  Talen started his round on the tenth hole, a long, intimidating par-5 with multiple opportunities to dunk your ball in the hole's two large water hazards.  He had double-bogeyed the hole on Monday, but on Tuesday he hit three conservative shots to arrive safely on the green and then two-putted for a ho-hum par.  It was a great start.  He then parred the next four holes, and while he maybe wasn't making the type of move he'd need to in order to actually win the tournament, he was playing his usual smart, solid golf.  A top-20 finish and a medal appeared to be in his grasp.Then, disaster.On #15 (his sixth hole), he hooked his drive into the deep rough on the left.  No big deal.  It happens to all golfers.  Even the great ones.  Finding his ball turned out to be no easy task, but thankfully, one of his playing partners came across it.  I was thinking he could probably get it on the green from there, two-putt for par, and move on.  Five (five!) swings later, he finally punched out sideways, chipped it close and made his putt for an eight (an eight!).  Both he and I underestimated how gnarly the rough was.  One of those swings from the rough actually produced a shot that spun so strangely it nearly went behind him; normally nothing surprises Talen, but on that shot, he let out an audible, "What?"All golfers, even the greatest of all time, have experienced something similar (Tiger Woods once got a 10 on a par three), and for nearly all those golfers, the experience is truly deflating.  While Talen did bounce back remarkably with a birdie on the very next hole, a three-putt bogey on #17,  a bogey on #1 (his tenth hole), and a triple-bogey on #2 told me the damage had been done.  I asked him several times if he was alright, but there wasn't much conviction in his "yeah, I'm fine"s.But, in a testament to just how talented he truly is, despite still not appearing to be in a good frame of mind, Talen played the last seven holes of his round in even par, which included a birdie on #9, his final hole of the season.  He finished the round with a score of eight-over par 80.  So, to truly summarize his round, he played two holes (#15 and #2) in seven-over par, and the other sixteen holes in one-over par.  He played so well for the vast majority of his round, but two mis-hits completely derailed a good round.  Golf can be so cruel.  Talen finished the two-day tournament in a tie for 37th.  Speaking of cruel...the tournament's first-round co-leader, Parker Mores of Olathe East, who shot 68 on the first day, shot 85 (85!) the second day.  For complete tournament results, click here).  There are lots of other interesting state tournament tidbits I could focus on, but a couple of note from 5A: Bishop Carroll won the team title, and Carroll's Noah Holtzman repeated as 5A individual champion.  Kapaun came in second as a team, and three of the top four individuals were from the GWAL.  Suffice it to say that the competition we face during the regular season is stout.I want to thank all of you who take the time to read through these summaries, and for all the encouragement you've given me, which in turn helps provide the motivation to write them.  It's been so great to hear that many of you have used this information to help better connect with your student-golfers.  Thank you to Coach Crayton for coordinating tournament information and travel plans.  A big thank you to all the golf parents for sharing your sons with me this season, and for tolerating my relentless Remind messages and emails.  And finally, thank you to the members of our team for making my first season as boys coach a truly fun and memorable experience.  I am rarely more happy than when I'm at the golf course, but seeing their excitement about being at the course as well just sends me over the top.  Thank you.

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