Golfers hit in matches against Asotin, Wilbur

RITZVILLE – The high school golf team is showing improvement after two tournaments.

Head Coach Bryce Court said they had an 18-hole match against Asotin at Quail Ridge, a course with a Par 71 and a rating/slope of 69.5/125. Double Par rules are in effect, so a golfer is not allowed to shoot higher than a double par.

Freshman Hunter Dinkins shot a 96, sophomore Nick Labes shot 106, freshman Lance Williamson shot 116, and freshman Ayden Alfonso and sophomore Blake Esser both shot 125.

"The conditions were windy and all players had problems with penalty strokes, but it was a good first outing in terms of understanding what tournament scoring was like versus casual golf scoring," Court said. "Nick Labes, in particular, started out very well with two pars and a bogey, but by the end of the hilly 18-hole course, his swing was starting to get more fatigued. I was very excited to see him play his first high school round, and believe he has great potential moving forward. Hunter Dinkins was the opposite, in that he started out a little nervous but by the end of the round was striking the ball cleanly and confidently. Hunter has all the tools in his bag, and once he gets over the mental hurdle of "tournament scoring," his score should improve significantly."

The team next competed against Wilbur at Big Bend Golf Course Thursday, April 15, for a 9-hole match. The course is a par 36 with an 18-hole rating/slope of 68/112.

Dinkins shot 47, Max Fedie 61, Alfonso 62, Esser, Amelia Court and Bridger Moore 64, and Tommy Rosen 72.

"We didn't struggle as much with penalty strokes, but had problems finishing within 50 yards of the hole," Coach Court said.

"It's still a very young group, and this was either their first or second tournament exposure and so they are still working on the mental aspects of the game. I'm very proud that they are out and are working to improve the areas of their game that need work. For Blake Esser and Ayden Alfonso, it was nice to see that they had cleaned up a lot of the penalty strokes from the last tournament, but they were pressing as they got close to the hole. Max Fedie was very impressive in his first tournament; he, like Thomas Rosen, have only recently started golfing and he is making huge strides in improvement in the shortened season. Amelia Court and Bridger Moore are still mixing in good shots with the bad, so as they develop some confidence they should start to do good things."