Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
A happy Kimball High Golf Team pose with their medals after winning the team championship of the season opening Bayard Tournament this past week. Left to right are Tyler Magninie, Zane Anthony, Coach Chad Wise, Izaac Reuter, Dillon Wise, and Jordan Greenwood. Greenwood also won the individual medalist honors with his round of 72. Anthony was fourth with his round of 83, and Wise fifth with his 83. The team score was 334.
Jordan Greenwood's par-round of 72, not only garnered him medalist honors, but also sparked a win by the Kimball High Boy's Golf Team in their season opening tournament play as the Longhorns won the Bayard Tournament by 12 strokes over runner-up Bridgeport. The Longhorns shot a team score of 334 with Bridgeport finishing runner-up with 346.
Greenwood's win came as no surprise as the talented junior is one of the state's better high school golfers, having earned two state medals already in his freshman and sophomore seasons of play. With all four of the remaining players on Coach Chad Wise's 2016 team experiencing their first high school competition ever, the team win might be somewhat of a surprise, but maybe not so much knowing the history of the three young freshman members of the Kimball team as they have won their share of honors in the summer junior golf tournament play.
Zane Anthony shot a round of 44-39=83 for fourth place and Dillon Wise shot 40-43=83 for fifth place. Izaac Reuter's round was 49-47=96 and senior Tyler Magninie, also playing his first high school tournament ever, shot 55-51=106.
Greenwood shot 37-35=72, a remarkable round of golf on a perfect day, but to fire off the even-par round in the windy conditions the golfers faced at Bayard this past week was above and beyond what was expected. His score was 7 strokes better than the 79 rounds shot by Eric Stevens of Bridgeport and Jacob Horstman of Hemingford. On the front nine, Greenwood had two bogies, one bird and six pars. On the back nine he started out with a double bogie, followed that with a bogie after three putting, then fired five birdies and a par! It was a lesson to the younger players that even when things don't go right, you keep your cool and make good things happen.
Greenwood said "The course was in real good shape but there were some tough pin placements. The first five or six holes wasn't bad, just a little breezy, but then the wind really got to going the rest of the way. I did alright I guess and I am happy with my play for the first time out."
Greenwood also went on to say he was really happy with how everyone else played as a team. Coach Wise said that Dillon Wise had some putting problems, missing some short putts that could have easily given him three or four more strokes better. When asked for his comments on the team's play at Bayard, coach Wise said "We played good but we can play better. I was happy with our score in that wind, but again, we can play better and we will play better. We have to remember that for four of our team, it was their first high school tournament ever."
The complete list of the top ten medal winners were Jordan Greenwood 72, Eric Stevens - Bridgeport 79, Jacob Horstman - Hemingford 79, Zane Anthony - Kimball 83, Dillon Wise - Kimball 83, Cole Retchless - Bridgeport 86, Nate Schmunk - Bridgeport 86, Blaine Flack - Crawford 88, Drew Letcher - Hay Springs 90, Kolby Walker - Mullen 90.
Team Scores: Kimball 334, Bridgeport 346, Mullen 374, Gordon-Rushville 388, Creek Valley 389, Crawford 398, Hemingford 398, Garden County 427, Bayard 438, Mitchell 443, Morrill 450, Chase County 453, Hay Springs and Potter-Dix no team score.
Kimball was back in action this past Tuesday at Mitchell, will play at Bridgeport today (Thursday) and at Chase County Saturday. They are at Morrill next Tuesday, April 19.