The Waynesville Tiger Boy's golf season got underway tonight as the Tigers traveled to Lebanon for a triangular match with Lebanon and Osage. The match was a reschedule from Monday's rainout. The weather was sunny and cool and the course in fair shape for the middle of March. 

The Yellowjackets came out on top in the varsity match with a 157 to Osage's 167 and the Tigers matched last season's team total of 212. In the JV match Osage scored a 203, Lebanon 219 and Waynesville 255. Cooper Hess from Lebanon was the medalist with a low score of 1 under par 35.

Our Tigers are very young this season with no seniors on the team. The Tigers are being led this year by two juniors Ben Pollman and Max Reyes. We have a highly motivated group of freshman and sophomores who make up the nucleus of the team. Two standouts that have impressed early this season are Sophomore Aaron Choi and Freshman Ben Whitten. Both have been playing for at least a year have shown signs of being able to get their games in shape to compete at our district tournament.

Choi led the Tigers tonight with a team low 46, followed by Whitten's 53, AJ Cabanes 55, Max Reyes 58, and Ben Bibb 61. Aaron practiced well on Tuesday as he worked out a few swing issues and played well tonight. He has vastly improved from a year ago as he has gotten much better with his short game. Whitten played number 1 as a freshman and did well for his first experience with Spring golf in Missouri. After tonights match I feel he has learned a lot about playing with thin lies, fairways that run out, and how to putt firm, but slow greens. This will make his practice time very valuable as he works on club selection, learning to bump and run a pitch shot, and managing the course. He wasn't personally happy with his round, but he realizes he will have growing pains with playing new courses and encountering many different varieties of fairways, rough, and greens over the next 2 months.

All in all, I am very pleased with the progress of all the players tonight and this season. Their dedication and practice focus is the best I have had in 5 seasons. They want to get better, they want to compete, and they want to build a strong team for the future.

The Tigers will next play at home tomorrow night at 4:00 pm vs Jefferson City and Rolla at Piney Valley.