East High Golf - Thursday, April 13, 2023

 On Thursday, April 13, the boys varsity golf team competed in the Newton High School Invitational, held at windswept Sand Creek Station Golf Course.  Sand Creek (which will host this year’s 6A state tournament) is truly one of the  great courses in Kansas, having hosted a wide range of championships, including the 2023 NJCAA Men’s National Championship, which will take place this May.  It is certainly challenging, especially when the Kansas wind howls, because, except for a few select locations, the course has no shelter from it.  On Thursday, the wind maybe wasn’t quite howling, but it was certainly snarling, and it was literally a factor on EVERY shot.  Even putts.  Prior to the round I told them multiple times that, yes, the wind will be a factor, and you will need to take it into account on each shot.

That is, unless, you are Talen Nasone.  The freshman got off to a little bit of a rough start, especially by his standards; if my memory is correct, he was four-over par after three holes, and was still at least four-over when I caught up with him immediately after his fifth hole.  While I can’t recall his exact words, he said something along the lines of, “I’m trying too hard to account for the wind…I’m not going to worry about it anymore”.  So, from that point on, Talen literally played as well as anyone on the golf course.  He finished his front nine with a four-over par score of 40, and then proceeded to shoot even-par on his back nine, finishing with a four-over par total of 76.  Good enough to tie for second place.  In the entire tournament.  Out of 122 players.  Whoa.

As if we shouldn’t be excited enough about Talen’s accomplishments, I have more.  Sophomore Anderson Tung had a similar experience, struggling a bit on the front-nine on his way to a seven-over 43.  But he played a super-steady back-nine, carding a three-over par 39, and a total of ten-over 82.  That score placed Anderson in a tie for 13th place.  He also improved by five strokes his score from our last tournament, which was played on an arguably easier course, in conditions that were absolutely perfect.  It was an excellent round of golf.  And only one other school (Maize South) placed more golfers in the top 13 than East High did.  Very exciting.

Four other East High golfers competed on Thursday, and despite the (already mentioned) exceptionally difficult conditions on a (already mentioned) more difficult course, two of them improved their scores from the last tournament.  Owen Knipp shot a 107, improving by 14 strokes.  He also hit one of the best putts of the day on 18, a steep downhill putt with the wind behind him to a flag that was set at the edge of the top shelf of a two-tiered green.  If he had hit it just a smidge harder, the ball would’ve literally rolled down to the bottom shelf and 40 feet past the hole.  Instead the ball cozied up right next to the hole and he tapped in for a par.  It was a GREAT two-putt.  Hagen Shane battled his way to a 109, improving by 11 shots.  He also played the back-nine nine shots better than the front; it is always exciting to see improvement throughout the round.  In addition, Hagen was condemned to play the round with the kid who posted the worst score of the tournament.  It wasn’t that this kid was just bad; I would never degrade a kid for a high score…it was that he was an absolute screwball.  Among other things, he actually hit Hagen’s ball on the last hole, which is a penalty.  This kid shot a 154, but we’re pretty sure he didn’t count all his strokes, so it was probably MUCH worse.

Despite our successes, the conditions did still create some casualties.  Henry White was less than thrilled with his score of 110, but he also improved on his back-nine, shooting six strokes better than his front-nine.  Donovan Bergen also had a bit of a rough day, shooting a 111, but he maintained a positive attitude throughout the round, and for that, I was proud of him.  Sometimes in golf, you just have to chalk it up to “one of those days”.  I know they’ll be better our next time out.

As a team, East High finished tied for 11th out of 20 schools.  And yes, first among all WPS schools 😊.  For complete tournament results, click here.

And finally, if you’ve read this far, thank you.  I NEVER intend to write as much as I do.

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