East High Golf - Monday, April 17, 2023

 On Monday, April 17, the East High boys golf team competed in their first GWAL tournament of the season.  The tournament was held at Auburn Hills Golf Course, a challenging course when conditions are perfect.  Throw in steady 20-25 mph winds, along with dry conditions that made the greens exceptionally hard and fast, and it made for, at times, a rough day for our players.  Because of the conditions, and because there are more City League golfers this year than in past years, we were unable to conclude play before dark.  A handful of groups finished 18 holes, but most did not.  In order to tabulate fair results, only common holes were scored, meaning, we could only count the eleven holes that EVERYONE played (holes 1-9, 17 & 18, for a par of 45).

As you’ve probably suspected or heard me say, there are some really good golfers in the city, especially at Kapaun & Carroll.  Of the top twelve finishers in this tournament, eleven were from those schools.  Of the top 25, 18 were from those schools.  To put this into further context, each school can only have six players on a varsity squad.  So, if you’re good at math, that means that there were six JV players from Kapaun and Carroll that finished better than most varsity players from other schools.  Very impressive.

Even though there were plenty of players that struggled with the conditions, there were a few who thrived.  The winning score was a six-under par 39, shot by two highly accomplished players: Noah Holtzman, the defending 5A individual champion who will play golf at KU next year; and Asher Whitaker, a junior who last summer became the youngest player in 97 years to win the Kansas Amateur.  They played in the same group, and were joined by East High’s Talen Nasone.  Whenever I saw Talen, he was making birdies, keeping up with (and in some cases, exceeding) the play of his partners.  But he apparently struggled at other times during the day, turning in a seven-over 52, his highest score of the season.  He finished tied for 15^th.

One of the things I like about Anderson Tung is the fact that, even when he’s struggling, he doesn’t outwardly express it.  So, despite carding a 13-over 58 (26^th place), you really didn’t sense much frustration from him, which is a wonderful trait to have as a golfer.  Donovan Bergen played possibly his best round of the season, shooting a 14-over 59, tying for 27^th.  I was especially proud of him because the last time I saw him he was stuck behind some trees and was having a terrible time getting out.  It was his worst hole of the day, so he obviously had some other really good holes to make up for it.

When a tournament is shortened like this one was, and certain holes are omitted, some golfers are going to benefit because they may’ve struggled on the holes that were left out (10-16).  And for some golfers it will be unfortunate because they may’ve played well on those holes.  Unfortunately for Owen Knipp and Hagen Shane, they fall into the latter category.  I saw Owen make a birdie on hole 14 that didn’t count, and Hagen was on pace to shoot a back-nine 42, which would have far exceeded his best nine-hole score of the season.  But that’s golf (and life sometimes).  Hagen ended up with a 62, tying him for 35^th, and Owen shot a 68, tying for 43^rd.  Henry White had another tough day, shooting a 70 and tying for 46^th.  As a team, East High finished 4^th with a score of 231.  For complete varsity results, click here.

This was the first tournament of the year that our JV team competed along with the varsity.  They played nine holes (the back nine) and were done well before dark 😊.  Arri Reilly played his best round of the young season, turning in a 60, which placed him in a tie for 6^th.  Ismail Saeed and Alec Gatzulis played in a group together and had an interesting, never-before-seen moment.  Apparently, two players hit putts at nearly the same time.  The balls collided while in motion, and one of the balls went in the hole!  Not exactly sure what the ruling should be, but you just never know what’s going to happen on the golf course.  Ismail shot a 64 (T13^th), and Alec shot a 65 (T15^th).  For complete JV results, click here.

The golf team will be in action again on Monday, April 24^th.  It will be our second GWAL competition of the season, and it will be held at our home course, MacDonald.  We must protect this house!