The Ozark Conference Tournament was played today at the Lake Valley Country Club at Camdenton. The tournament was won by the Glendale Falcons with a team score of 303 and 2nd place went to the Lebanon Yellowjackets with a team score of 318. The Waynesville Tigers came in 10th place with a team score of 422. The tournament medalist went to Chase Gafner from Glendale with a score of 2 over par 74.   The Tigers played about the same as they have in the last couple of weeks. Some of the newer players played well, while some of the older players didn't today. Junior Kaleb Nadig came in with a pretty good score of 105. Having only played for 2 months, he has been consistently getting better. Today the players had a very difficult time putting. The greens at Lake Valley are notorious for being fast and having a lot of unseen break in them. In many cases, the reason for the difficult putting was not getting the ball in the right spots on the greens. Greens like Lake Valley's requires you to consistently keep the ball below the hole and the Tigers didn't execute this routinely. There were way too many 3-putt holes which contributed to at least 20 extra strokes that I saw. If the Tigers can putt better next Monday during the district tournament, I feel we can reach our goal of getting a team score at or below 400.

The Waynesville Tigers golf team played in a quadrangular match with host Osage, Lebanon, and Rolla at the Osage National Golf Course in Osage Beach. Early rains cleared away and the sun was shining as the course was in terrific shape.   The meet was won by Lebanon with a team low 154. The Tigers finished with a 200, meeting the goal I had set for them. There was a 3 way tie for medalist as Jacob Krantz (Osage), Tryn Titus and Jack Ehrhardt (Lebanon) all came in with a 2 over par 38.   The Tigers were led once again by Dylan Reynolds with a team low 45. Junior Kaleb Nadig, playing as the number 6, came in with a 54. I thought his score wasn't too bad for someone new to the game and playing in only his 4th match of the season. Nadig will play the number 5 for us at districts. His continual improvement each match is a positive sign that the tigers are slowing getting better with more playing time and practice.   Next up is the Ozark Conference tournament being played at the Lake Valley Golf and Country Club in Camdenton on Monday, April 24.

The Waynesville Tiger golf team hosted the Waynesville Invitational Golf Tournament today at the Piney Valley Golf Course on Fort Leonard Wood. A threat of rain gave way to cloudy, cool conditions and nearly perfect Spring weather for golf. The 13 team tournament was won by the defending Class 4 State Champion Glendale Falcons with a team low 280 in our unconventional format of medal play, best ball, and scramble. 76 players participated in the 11 school tournament.    This tournament is a good mid-season tournament for teams that may have a 6th person vying for a chance to play in the upcoming district tournaments. We invite mostly local schools, but have recently invited teams in our district as well so they can get an extra round in on our course.    The Tigers will host the Class 4, District 5 tournament 1 May at Piney Valley. These types of tournaments would not be possible without the outstanding support and cooperation we receive from the Fort Leonard Wood MWR and the awesome staff at Piney Valley. We thank them very kindly for their efforts in helping us grow the sport of golf for our area youth.   The Tigers will next be in action on Thursday at the Osage National Golf Course in Osage Beach with a quadrangular meet with Osage, Lebanon, and Rolla.

The Waynesville Tiger Golf Team competed in a 26 team tournament at Old Kinderhook Golf Course in Camdenton today.  Wow, the weather was perfect, the golf course in great shape, and 135 golfers from all over Missouri there to compete!    The tournament was won by Kansas City Rockhurst with a very nice team score of 293. The individual medalist was Rockhurst's own Michael Bessenbacher with a 3 under par, 69.   Tigers had their best performance of the year as I was able to finally have all of my top 5 players. Waynesville finished with a 421, 34 strokes better than our previous best of 455. Senior Dylan Reynolds led the tigers with a 97 after being out all last week with an illness that really took away a lot of his energy. He was a little rusty, but is very close to putting his complete game together to make the final push towards districts on May 1st.   The biggest standout for the young tigers was freshman Aaron Choi. He continues to get better each time he plays. It has been a while since I have had a freshman score anywhere close to a 100. Aaron came in with a 101 today on the toughest course and greens he has faced yet. Conditions were much better than at his other tournaments, but he took advantage of great playing conditions today. Kinderhook is a course that can lead to penalty strokes after every shot from the tee to the green on every hole. For him to score a personal best today, was awesome! He really like the greens and putted very well. At his last tournament, we discussed how to get better at putting, and he did a great job of taking the advise as it helped him greatly today.   Other tiger scores were Collin Ronje (111), Alec Chapman (112), and Ben Pollman (119).   Next up, the Tigers will host their Waynesville Invitational on Monday, April 17th at the Piney Valley Golf Course on Fort Leonard Wood. It is a non-traditional tournament with 3 scoring formats made up of medal play, best ball, and scramble. As the 17th is a non-school day, we hope that some of the community can get a chance to come out and see the 13 teams in action.

The Waynesville Tiger Golf team participated in the Missouri State University Relays Tournament today at the Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course in Springfield. The players finally got to play in a tournament without needing any rain gear. The Tigers participated in the Class 4 group and that is all the data this I will discuss.   The tournament was won by Glendale with a team total of 295. The Tigers finished 9th with a 484. The tournament medalist was Alex Locke from the Falcons with a 1 over par, 71.   The Tigers were led by Sophomore Ben Pollman with a 105. Most of my regular players were sick, injured, or out for other purposes, so I took a very young team. They actually faired well considering their inexperience. The group managed to tie a different group I had taken to the Union Tournament. That group included my actual number 1 and 3 players.    I was very pleased with Ben's performance today. He is getting to the green area in 2-3 strokes, but has difficulty finishing the hole due to chipping and pitching woes. We have discussed what he needs to address at practice and with time, his short game will get much better. Aaron Choi also has begun a trend of shooting near a 110 as he had a 111 Monday and 110 today. He is showing consistency in his scoring. Other Tiger scores were Archer Hedgepath 132, Ben Bibb 138, and Zac Medina 137. This was Bibb and Medina's first tournament appearance.   The young tigers are a long way from being competitive, but they are an eager bunch and I am looking forward to watching them continue to improve through practice and off-season play.   The Tigers will play next at Rolla on Monday, April 10th with a duel match versus the Bulldogs at Oak Meadows Country Club in Rolla.

Today, the Waynesville Tigers Golf Team participated in the Union Golf Tournament at the Birch Creek Golf Course in St. Clair, MO. The weather was very rainy and the course was played under lift, clean, and place conditions. With the aid of umbrellas and rain gear all 52 players from the 12 represented teams made the best of a soggy day.   St. Francis Borgia was the winner with a very good 310 team score, followed closely by Hermann with a 313. The tournament medalist went to Thomas Henson of Hermann with an amazing 1 over par, 73 aided by an impressive 3 under 33 on the front 9.   The Tigers were led once again by Senior Dylan Reynolds with a 96. I played with a very young, inexperienced team due to JROTC commitments by a couple of top 5 players and an injury to another. So, that left the team with three Freshmen playing in their first-ever 18 hole tournament. Based on conditions and the inexperience, I wouldn't call today's round a total wash as the 3 young men battled the elements and a new course and faired about as expected. Freshmen Aaron Choi (127), Archer Hedgepath (140) and AJ Cabanes (143) all played their hearts out. As beginners of a very repetitive sport, the best way to really see where you are is to get thrown into action, even in moderate downpours. These young men will eventually become leaders of our team in the future and I was proud that they didn't quit or give up on themselves when conditions were at their worst.

The Waynesville Tiger golf team played a quadrangular match with Jefferson City, Rolla, and Belle High Schools. The match was played at the Piney Valley Golf Course on Ft. Leonard Wood with the perfect weather and a course in great shape for mid-March.   The Jays came out on top in this one with a team total of 163. Rolla finished a close second with a 167. Waynesville's team score was 220. Belle did not play a varsity team, just a JV team. The individual medalist went to Jeff City's Brett Trowbridge and Rolla's Matt Drallmeier, both with 3 over par 39's.    The Tigers were again led by Senior Dylan Reynolds with a 43. He is the only player currently shooting his season average in our meets. Our team score went up from 8 strokes from Monday's match at Lebanon as my 2-4 players have had difficulties scoring in the early stages of the season. My 5 player, Freshman Aaron Choi is steadily learning how to compete as he dropped 4 strokes from Monday's match with a 59. Other Tiger scores were Collin Ronje 58, Ben Pollman 60 and Alec Chapman 62.   My young players are starting to get around the course a little easier as the JV team matched its score from Monday with another team total 262. Their scores were as follows: Jorge Rios 58, Archer Hedgepath 66, Cody Caple 69, Ahmed Amjed 72, and AJ Cabanes with a 69. The big mover in this group was Rios who was able to shave 10 strokes off Monday's score. He is starting to value practice time as a means to improve.    The Tigers will play next at the Union Tournament on Monday, March 27th.

The Waynesville Tiger Golf Team began its season last night with a match at the Great Life and Fitness golf course in Lebanon. The triangular meet with host Lebanon and School of the Osage was met with terrific Spring weather as temperatures were in the low 80's at the start of the match.    Lebanon had a very strong showing with a team total of 152. Osage finished with a 180, and Waynesville came in with a 212. Meet medalist was Tryn Titus of Lebanon with a 1 under par 35.   The Tigers are very young once again this season with a mixture of some players having 1-4 years of experience and a lot of first year players. Senior Dylan Reynolds was the team medalist with a 45 followed by fellow Senior Collin Ronje with a 51, Junior Alec Chapman 56, Sophomore Ben Pollman 60, and Freshman Aaron Choi 63. Reynolds improved 2 strokes over last year's 47 and shows signs of continued improvement. He played well for most of the match, but it seemed a different part of his game kept him from scoring low on each hole. If he will keep working on his total game during the season, he stands a very good chance of performing well at the district tournament hosted by Waynesville on May 1st.   With so many young players (11 total), we have a nucleus of athletic kids who should help the team over the next few seasons. They all gained valuable experience in their first match and now have a better understanding of what practice means and why playing in the off season is so critical to development. I goaled each of them with scoring a legitimate double par, 72 and 3 of them managed to do that. Junior Kaleb Nadig (58), Freshmen Aaron Choi (63), and Archer Hedgepath (66). Nadig is a former hockey player and has adjusted to golf very quickly. Choi is very athletic and shown good hand-eye coordination. Hedgepath isn't as athletic, but he is a quick study and has relied on repetition to improve. With time and practice many of these young players should improve quickly and I am very excited to see them develop.