PIRATE BOYS GOLFERS FINISH 11TH AT PEQUOT LAKES INVITATIONAL

The Crookston Pirate Boys Golf team finished 11th out of 12 teams while shooting a 422 at the talent-rich Pequot Lakes Early Bird invitational meet held at the Legacy Golf Course at Cragun’s Resort near Pequot Lakes.  Detroit Lakes won the event with a 323, three strokes better than Brainerd and Eden Prairie.  “This meet is centrally located for the teams with Brainerd and Pequot Lakes only a few minutes away, Staples-Motley is a half-hour away and they play this course a lot during the summer,” said Pirate Coach Steve Kofoed. “The course played long, we were delayed twice because of weather.  It was cold and we were in and out of snow when we started.”

All six Crookston golfers were playing the Legacy Course for the first time and mixed with snow falling while the Pirates started their round, it was a challenging day. 

Blaine Andringa played a steady round and led Crookston with a 24 over par 96. “That is kind of what Blaine does.  He doesn’t get too high or too low.  He hit a tee shot into the trees on a par five and made a good escape out of the trees to get out in the fairway.  He hit a smart shot and hit a great fourth shot to get a few feet within the hole,” said Coach Kofoed. “He plugged away and played pretty well, especially since it was around 35 degrees.”

Kaleb Thinglestad was the other Pirate that turned in a sub-100 round with a 97.  Kaleb had a rough start on the first hole but bounced back for an eagle on the second hole. “He was the first guy off the tee box for our group and hit the tee shot a little low and into the fairway bunker.  He hit it out and finished with a seven,” said Coach Kofoed. “He followed it up with an eagle on the second hole so he righted the ship pretty quick.  He had a few places where he had a bad swing or a three-putt and this course isn’t very forgiving.”

The rest of the Pirates (Ashton Schockman, Brannon Tangquist, Jaxon Wang, and Gavin Anderson) had some good holes but ran into some tough holes on the challenging Legacy course. ” They had some decent scores, but then they had some big numbers and for a few of the younger kids that we have, there are a few times where you have to hit a golf shot and if you don’t you are in trouble,” said Coach Kofoed. “It took us a few tries on a couple of holes and next thing you know you have an eight on the hole.  Most courses we play will be more forgiving than this one, but it was nice to golf here on a nice course and hopefully, the kids enjoyed it.”

Crookston will host the Crookston Invitational on Monday, April 26 at 9:30 a.m. at Minakwa Golf Course.