East High Golf - Monday, May 1, 2023

The East High boys golf team was back at it again on Monday, May 1, teeing it up at Tex Consolver Golf Course for the final regular season GWAL event of 2023.  We finally got some spectacular weather and, despite the length of the course (Tex Consolver is the longest public course in the city) many of our guys took advantage, posting their best scores of the season.

The Blue Aces were once again led by freshman Talen Nasone, who posted a three-over par 75, which placed him sixth.  He made an uncharacteristic mistake on the 7th green, and followed that up with a bogey on 8.  But if you take away those two holes, he played the round at even par.  I was proud of him for how he bounced back.  He was once again grouped with Logan Lam from Southeast and Asher Whitaker from Kapaun.  Hole number nine at Tex measures 405 yards in length, and is a 90 degree dogleg over water. Asher Whitaker drove the green, and his ball ended up 10 feet from the hole.  Incredible.  (Asher won the tournament with a six-under par 66).  Another interesting note: Talen was the only freshman to place in the top 25 of this tournament.

Anderson Tung had another very solid, consistent day, shooting an 8-over par 80, which was good for 13th place.  Of all our players, I think I relate to Anderson’s game the most.  He doesn’t blow you away with how far he hits the ball, but he just makes pars & bogeys (and occasional birdies!) and usually avoids the big scores that really derail a round.  And at the end of the day, he posts a score that is better than 70 percent of the field.  I love it.

One of the most exciting developments of Monday’s tournament involved Donovan Bergen.  After thawing out from last Monday’s tournament, Donovan went out and shot the best round of his career: he placed 18th with a score of 86!  One of the things I love about golf is that, in a way, you’re not competing against other players; you’re competing against the course and yourself.  Because of this, Donovan was probably more excited about his score than nearly anyone else in the field.  It was a great moment for him.

Owen Knipp had been struggling with his swing for the last couple of tournaments, and started Monday similarly.  But when I saw him late in his round, he was feeling a lot better, and he said he had decided to simplify things and go back to the basics of the swing.  He ended up shooting an even 100, which was his best score of the season as well.  Hagen Shane also posted his best score of the season, shooting a 102 and placing 32nd.  And then there was Alec Gatzulis.  Alec filled in on varsity for Henry White, who was out sick.  It would not only be Alec’s first varsity tournament, but it would be the first time in his life that he had played 18 holes.  He was tired and sore afterwards, but he did his best and learned a lot (although, we had a talk the next day about how the incredible things he saw the Kapaun players do was not normal 😊).  Alec finished with a score of 130.  As a team East High shot 341, good enough for 3rd place, and once again, best among our WPS counterparts.  Click here for complete tournament results.

On the JV side, there was a lot for East High to be excited about.  Because Alec moved up to varsity, we only had two players play JV, and both did awesome!  Arri Reilly and Ismail Saeed both shot 49 to finish tied for second!  While I didn’t get to see them a lot, when I did get around to Arri, he completed a really nice up-and-down on #8 for a par.  Both have improved greatly as the season has gone along, which is always exciting to see.  Click here for complete tournament results.

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