The WHS Tiger Boy's Varsity met today at AL Gustin Golf Course in Columbia today for a 14 team medal tournament.  The weather threatened for a while in the morning, but it never produced any of the predicted rain as conditions were near perfect for the young Tigers.

I took two seasoned Juniors, a 1-year  Senior, and 2 very young Freshmen. I knew it would be tough on my inexperienced golfers and having good weather made it a little easier for them to adjust to tournament play.

In tournament play all the strokes are counted unlike the double par format commonly used for our night matches. The pace of play is much faster and the level of competition is tremendous. Through it all, these young players persevered and gained valuable knowledge about what it will feel like toward the end of the season when the state tournaments begin.

Jacob Morriss led the Tigers with an 87, Wade Howser carded an 88, Freshman Fred Boone shot a 120, Senior James Richardson had a 135, and Freshman Dylan Reynolds came in at 145. The tournament was won by Columbia Rockbridge and the tournament medalist was Matt Echelmeier of Rockbridge with a 67.

I really feel the best lesson from this match was the premium we must place on hitting solid shots, sticking with a pre-shot routine, and trying our best to execute our course strategy. On a number of occasions strokes could have been saved by all the players by taking a few seconds to think about all the available options on approach shots and putts once on the green. A course such as AL Gustin does not present many flat lies on and off the green. Keeping the ball below the hole on these types of greens in a must. It could mean the difference of a 2 putt or potentially a 4 putt as some of them found out today.

Team Scores:

1- 295 Columbia Rockbridge A 

2- 310 KC Rockhurst

?3- 310 Park Hill South

4- 330 Columbia Rockbridge B

4- 330 Rolla

6- 331 Jefferson City

7- 339 Columbia Hickman A

8- 342 Southern Boone

9- 343 Kirksville

10- 347 Columbia Hickman B

11- 359 Columbia Battle

12- 362 Sedalia Smith-Cotton

13- 385 Camdenton JV

14- 430 Waynesville