June 18, 2015 at 12:02 p.m.
Three area golfers make their mark at state tournament
Three area golfers make their mark at state tournament
The pair has taken turns as the Wildcats’ top golfer all year. Chambers, a senior, won two conference meets this year and had a 74.67 average. Thompson, a junior, won four conference meets and scored a 74.17 average.
Both were All-Conference performers and both finished tied for second in the Mississippi 8 Conference meet.
So, it only felt right that the pair tied for 36th place at the state tournament last week, with both shooting a 158.
The way they got there, however, was dramatically different.
Chambers looked poised to make a run at the upper echelon of golfers after the first day. After carding a two-over 38 on the front nine, he shot even par on the back nine to score a two-over 74 on the first day, which placed him among the top 15.
On the second day, though, is when Chambers ran into some problems. He got up and down on a few early holes and actually ended up shooting a three-over 39 on the front nine to nearly match his first day score on that half of the course.
On the back nine, however, he didn’t come on strong like he did the first day. He shot a 45 on the back half of Bunker Hills, and it dropped him considerably down the scoreboard.
He ended up with a two-day score of 158, which put him in 36th place.
Thompson went the opposite way of Chambers to get to his 158. He struggled to an opening 44 on the front nine of the West Course. That is a tough score to overcome at the state tournament in the first quarter leg, but Thompson was able to dig out a bit over the next day and a half.
He shot a 38 on the back nine to bring his first round score to 82.
On the East Course is when he was able to find his game a bit more. He shot a 39 on the front nine before carding his low half of 37 on the back nine.
He climbed to 36th with the round, tied with Chambers and three other golfers.
North Branch
Junior Nick Kress made his return to the state tournament. He narrowly missed a berth last year as a sophomore and made his debut at state two years ago as a freshman.
Kress shot a nice 39 to open up his first day on the East Course, and looked like he was poised to build on his previous tourney experience at the Coon Rapids course.
But, a disastarous back nine on his opening day led to a 50 -- one of only two scores that high for the whole tournament -- and left him in a deep hole heading into the second day.
He led off with a 44 on the front nine, which didn’t help his cause too much, but then closed with a nice 40 on the back nine to earn 83rd place out of 88 golfers.
Kress should have another year to work on his game at Bunker Hills and figure out the course a bit better.
Dane Sethre-Hofstad of Moorhead won the meet with a 143. Fellow Mississippi 8 Conference competitor Gunnar Goodmanson of Buffalo came in fifth place with a two-day score of 149.
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