East High Golf (GWAL Championships Edition) - Monday, May 6/Wednesday, May 8, 2024

The top-12 finishers at the 2024 GWAL Varsity Championship.

Golf practice began way back in February, and at the time it felt like we were starting soooo early.  We played in a JV tournament at the end of March, but our first varsity tournament wasn't until April 8, so it was quite a long stretch between first practice and first tournament.  Now here we are, on May 8, and our season has less than two weeks left.  It is incredible how fast it has gone.

Our regular season ended with last Saturday's tournament in Garden City, and we now begin a stretch of three tournaments that I consider the postseason.  This coming Monday will be our regional tournament, and state is the following Monday and Tuesday.  But this week, the GWAL Golf Championships were played, and it feels like our boys are starting to peak at just the right time.

Four of our golfers played in the JV GWAL Championship on Monday, May 6.  The tournament was held at Sim Park, and with threatening weather on the horizon, we bumped the start time up to 10:00 am.  Then, before we could even tee off, the event was shortened from 18 holes to nine.  At the time, it seemed like a prudent decision, with intermittent rain and gusty winds.  It really wasn't very nice out.

The JV squad was led by junior Arri Reilly, who played his best round of the season, posting a score of 48 and finishing T12.  After struggling mightily in Garden City just two days earlier, it was just the type of day Arri needed.  And it was the best finish by any golfer from a public school.

But behind Arri, the rest of the team struggled a little, unable to muster the kind of finish to their season they were hoping for.  Ismail Saeed knew it wasn't going to be his day when, at one point, the head of his 8-iron came flying off mid-shot.  Ismail still managed to shoot a 56 and finish T20th.

After a promising showing in Garden City with the varsity, Alec Gatzulis had high hopes for this tournament.  But, as he told me post-round, "I just didn't have it today".  And sometimes in golf that's how it goes.  Even though he didn't have it, he still had a great attitude and did his best.  Alec shot a 64 to T30th.

And finishing T36th, with a score of 69, was Zheyun "Karl" Shan.  This was Karl's first season on the team, and really, his first true experiences in the game of golf.  He improved greatly in just a short period of time, and with some continued work, Karl has the potential to be a solid golfer for the team next season.  For complete JV GWAL results, click here.

The GWAL Varsity Championship was held on Wednesday, May 8.  Unlike the JV tournament, this one was played in nearly perfect weather.  Maybe a bit breezy, but sunny and warm.  The host course, Tex Consolver GC, evokes good memories for a number of our golfers, so I was hopeful for a good showing.  As it turns out, I set my expectations too low.

This entire season has been a bit up-and-down for Talen Nasone.  He has still shot decent scores, but maybe not quite the scores he has hoped for.  He has hit the ball well enough, but in most of our tournaments, he just hasn't been able to make putts.  Well, today, the putts started dropping, and amazing results followed.  Talen's front-nine 32 (which was tied for the lowest nine-hole score of the tournament) included four birdies and an eagle!  He rolled in two more birdies on the back-nine, and when the dust had settled, Talen had posted a four-under par 68.  He finished in second place, with only University of Oklahoma-commit Asher Whitaker (a senior) standing between Talen and a league championship.

Despite all that, Anderson Tung did his best to ensure the spotlight was not squarely on Talen.  Anderson's game is generally steady, if unspectacular: lots of pars, with occasional birdies and bogeys mixed in.  His front-nine 34 (tied for the second-lowest nine-hole score of the tournament) ended with this stretch: eagle, par, eagle, double-bogey, birdie. What is THAT?!?  Exciting is what it is!  Anderson and I were both fired up!  But, because golf is golf, almost out of nowhere, Anderson began to fight it.  He really had to grind the rest of the way, and despite shooting a back-nine 44, his spectacular play early on allowed Anderson to finish tied for 7th, with a score of 78.

Like several of our golfers, Hagen Shane's season has been up and down.  He has posted a couple of scores that are career bests, and some scores that are among the worst of his career.  His round on Monday got off to a rough start, and in fact, he was eight-over par after just four holes.  He was dejected coming off the #5 green (despite making par), and I told him that his team needed him to be positive.  It's difficult to say if my words truly inspired him, but something changed at that point, as he played the final 14 holes in just ten-over par.  And over his final six holes he was just two-over par, which is just a tremendous way to close out a golf tournament.  Hagen's 90 was the lowest score of his career thus far, and he finished 18th.

Donovan Bergen also got off to a bit of a rough start, as he was seven-over par after four holes.  But much like Hagen, at that point he began to steady the ship, and over his final 14 holes he was fourteen over par.  His back-nine 44 was five shots better than his front (I always like to see improvement from the front nine to the back), and his 93 was good enough for 19th place.

Like a lot of golfers, it is sometimes difficult for Henry White to not let a few bad holes blind him to the good things he is doing.  And it's true, he did have a few bad holes.  But if you throw out his three worst scores of the day and look at the remaining 15 holes, he was just 15-over par on those holes.  And not only that, he parred two of the par threes, including #8, a hole Talen and Anderson played in combined three-over par.  Henry's 97 allowed him to finish T24th.

The last couple of spots on our six-man roster have been up-in-the-air for most of the season.  Kyran Shane's performance last week convinced me that he deserved the final spot.  Kyran got off to a shaky start on Monday, but eventually settled in and posted a solid round.  One of the things Coach Bergmann (my high school coach) taught me is too look for trends, or for stretches of holes where you performed well.  Sometimes you can find something positive in a difficult round.  So after Kyran signed for his 101-his best score of the season-we broke his round down into three six-hole stretches.  He shot a 43 over his first six holes (+19).  Not good.  His next six holes: 27 (+3)!  And for his final six holes,  31 (+7).  So, over his final twelve holes he was just ten-over par.  It will be exciting to watch Kyran piece together a good 18-hole round.  Kyran finished in 29th place, and only two other freshman placed higher than he did.

When you have four individuals in the top-twenty, inevitably your team score is going to be solid.  Our team score of 329 is by far the best team score we have posted in my time as coach.  East High finished solidly in third place, and first among our WPS brethren.  For complete tournament results, click here.

A few interesting stats and tidbits from Monday's tournament:

• Based on a scan of the results, today's round produced five eagles (two shots under par on a hole); East High golfers were responsible for three of them.
• The par three holes played tough, yielding only two birdies; an East High golfer had one of them.
• Of the top twelve finishers, only three hail from WPS schools; two of them are Blue Aces (and that third golfer used to be a Blue Ace).

On Monday the East High golfers will compete in the KSHSAA 6A Regional tournament at Rolling Meadows Golf Course in Junction City.  Rolling Meadows holds a special place in my heart as it is the course my friends and I played during our college years.  The memories there are thick for me, and with a little luck, our team will be able to create a few memories of their own.