East High Golf - Monday, April 8, 2024

Junior Anderson Tung putts on 18 at Auburn Hills. Anderson shot a 12-over 84.

After five weeks of practice, the East High boys varsity golf team finally got their season underway on a spectacular, made-for-golf Monday, as they competed in the Bishop Carroll Invitational at Auburn Hills Golf Course.  

This tournament had traditionally been played at Rolling Hills Country Club, possibly my favorite course in the Wichita area.  So you can imagine my disappointment when last week I realized it would be at Auburn Hills, the most difficult public course in the city.  As the tournament teed off, and the effects of the solar eclipse began to subside, the question was: would Auburn Hills prove too challenging for the first tournament of the season? Unfortunately, for most of our golfers, the answer was yes.

Our entire team has high expectations for this season, as we return our entire lineup.  This includes two state-qualifiers from last season, and seven other players with at least some varsity experience.  Plus, the future of the program beyond this season is bright, as our team this year includes just one senior.  After yesterday's tournament, our expectations have not changed; we just may need to reevaluate our plan for meeting those expectations.

As expected our two returning state-qualifiers, sophomore Talen Nasone and junior Anderson Tung, led the way for us, and in fact, shot the exact same score of 12-over 84, tying for 32nd.  Neither golfer was overly excited about their round, but Anderson's outlook was a little rosier.  He was so steady yesterday, posting scores of four or five on 17 of the 18 holes.  And the one hole that didn't end in a four or five was a bogey six on a par five.  Talen's score was a little more surprising, especially considering that last season, other than two rounds of 80, his scores were exclusively in the 70s.  Every golfer has bad days; Talen's just happened to come in the first tournament of the season.  I am confident he will bounce back.

Sophomore Hagen Shane finished 65th with a score of 102.  Hagen's round certainly left lots of room for improvement, but one thing that has improved is Hagen's demeanor.  So far this season he has been much more positive on the course, and he appeared to be having fun with his playing partners.  If that continues, Hagen's scores will improve as well.

When I caught up with junior Donovan Bergen as he started his back nine, he was really disappointed.  He had just shot a 56 on his first nine holes, which was definitely not the start he wanted.   But I watched him put his drive in the middle of the fairway, getting his back nine off to a good start, and eventually leading to a seven-stroke improvement from his front nine.  He finished T66 with a score of 105.

Junior Henry White experienced the opposite of what Donovan faced.  He was a bit up and down early on, posting a front nine score of 53.  But things got worse as the round progressed, and a back nine 58 (and a total of 111) placed him in a tie for 77th.

Our lone senior, Owen Knipp, actually got off to a decent start: through his first ten holes he was 15-over and playing steady.  But over the last eight holes, his round went completely off the rails, as it took him 71 shots to complete his last eight holes.  He finished 92nd with a score of 125.

Despite our struggles, as a team we finished 9th with a score of 375, which was the best finish of any of the teams from USD 259.  So we've got that going for us, which is nice.  Kapaun and Eisenhower finished in a tie for first with team scores of 290, and the top individual finishers were from those schools as well: Asher Whitaker of Kapaun and Tyler Hardtarfer of Eisenhower shot identical 6-under par 66s.  Very impressive.  For complete tournament results, click here.

It is way too early for our team to panic, and sometimes it's nice to be reminded of how difficult this game can be.  I think that a re-dedication to concepts like course management and mental toughness will go a long ways towards improvement during the course of the season.  We will be in action again this Thursday, at the Newton Invitational at Sand Creek Station.