The Crookston Pirate Boys Golf team finally got their first competitive round of golf in on a beautiful Wednesday and finished tied for second place with East Grand Forks with a 381 at the Roseau Invite played in Menagha at Blueberry Pines Golf Club. Roseau, the defending Section 8AA champ, had the top four individual scores and won the invite by 65 strokes. “I was proud of the fact that we had four guys under 100,” said Pirate Coach Steve Kofoed. “That was nice to see we were able to golf that well in our first round of the year.”
Garrett Fischer, an eighth-grader, led the Pirates with the lowest round. He had a solid front nine, starting with a bogey before a quadruple bogey on the second hole. He would play pretty steady the rest of the way with back-to-back bogies, a triple bogey, and a quadruple bogey. Garrett finished the final three holes strong with a double bogey, a bogey, and a par for a 53 on the front nine.
On the back nine, Garrett was on fire. He started with a par on the 10th hole before recording the first Pirate birdie of the season on the 486-yard par five. He followed a bogie, par, bogie, par, and another par. Fischer ended the round with a triple bogey and a bogey for a back-nine total of 41 (five over par) and an 18-hole total of 94. “Garrett hit some quality shots throughout the day,” said Pirate Coach Steve Kofoed. “The back nine was probably his best nine holes away from Minakwa. He is hitting the ball further than he did last year and 94 isn’t where he wants to be later in the season, but this was a good start for him.”
Hunter Nicholas, a freshman, started the round with a par and turned in a bogey on the second hole. He settled down after a double and a triple bogey and had three straight holes with a bogey. He had a triple bogey on the par-three eighth hole before finishing the front nine with a bogey for a 49 at the turn.
Hunter started with a bogey, double bogey, and a bogey on the back-nine before getting the second Pirate birdie of the year on the 339-yard par-four 13th hole. Nicholas followed with back-to-back double bogies going into the final three holes. Hunter finished with a double bogey, bogey, and ended with a par for a 95. “Hunter’s highest number was a seven so he was steady throughout his round,” said Coach Kofoed. “He had a nice back nine and he was happy with his score overall and he is also hitting the ball further than he did last year.”
Connor Maruska, an eighth-grader, started his round with a par on the 447-yard par-five. He followed with a bogey and a double-bogey before getting a par on the par-three fourth hole. Connor followed with a bogey and a triple before turning in his second par of the day on the 365-yard par-four seventh hole. He had a tough eighth hole with an eight before finishing the front nine with a double bogey and a 50.
Connor had a decent start on the back nine with a double bogey, bogey, bogey, and a double bogey. On the 14th hole, he recorded his third par of the day. He followed with a triple bogey and finished strong on the final three holes with a bogey, par, and par for a 96. “Connor played the front nine better than the rest of the guys. When he hit a shot that wasn’t what he wanted he was able to play it and that was big for him,” said Coach Kofoed. “To shoot a 96 in the first varsity meet of his career is impressive.”
Gavin Winger, a junior, had a rough start to his round with a triple-bogey before back-to-back double-bogies. After a triple and double bogey, Gavin settled in with a par on the 305-yard par-four sixth hole. He finished the front nine with a double, bogey, and a double for a 51.
Gavin continued his steady play on the back-nine with a bogey, double bogey, and another bogey. He followed with another double bogey and a bogey going into the final four holes. On the 15th hole, Winger recorded his first birdie of the season on the par-four. He finished the final three holes with a triple bogey, a bogey, and a ended with a bang as he recorded his second birdie of the back-nine on the par 5 482-yard 18th hole for a 96. “For Gavin to finish the final four holes with two birdies was impressive,” said Coach Kofoed. “He finished strong and got better as he went along and that is what we like to see.”
Brannon Tangquist was pretty consistent in his front nine. He started with a triple bogey, double, bogey, double, triple, and double on the first six holes. He had back-to-back bogies before finishing with a triple bogey on the ninth hole for a 54 on the front nine.
On the back nine, Brannon settled in a little more. He started with a bogey and three double bogies before recording his first par of the season on the 155-yard par-three 14th hole. The final four holes were a bogey, triple bogey, double bogey, and a bogey for a total of 104.
Ashton Shockman, a sophomore, had seven solid holes on the front nine with one bogey and five double bogies, and a triple. The third and fourth holes hurt him with a 10 and a 7, and he had a 58 on the front nine.
Ashton had a great start on the back-nine with a par on the 367-yard par four. He also parred the 486-yard 10th hole with a five. He double-bogeyed the next two holes before he had two holes that did him in again with a nine and a 12 on the 14th and 15th holes. Shockman settled down and had a double bogey and a bogey going into the final hole where he finished with a double bogey for a score of 117.
Tate Hamre, an eighth-grader, started the round with a bogey on the par-five first hole. He ran into three holes where he had a 10, 9, and 9. Otherwise, he golfed pretty well and turned in a 64 in the front nine.
Tate improved on his back nine after shooting a nine and eight on the 10th and 11th holes. He bounced back with a triple bogey, and two double bogies. The next two holes were tough ones as he shot an 11 and 10. He finished the final two holes with a double bogey and a bogey for a 131.
“It was nice to get the first round in today. Guys were wearing shorts, it was warm and sunny and a good day to be on the golf course,” said Coach Kofoed. “We saw some good things from all the golfers and we saw some things we will need to work on, as you would expect in the first round. It was just nice to get our first round in and when we have to take advantage of every opportunity we get this spring.”
Crookston will play at the Bemidji Invitational at the Town and Country Club on Friday.
Teams | Pirates | Score | |
1. Roseau -316 | Garrett Fischer | 94 | |
T2. Crookston -381 | Hunter Nicholas | 95 | |
T2. East Grand Forks-381 | Connor Maruska | 96 | |
4. Thief River Falls – 399 | Gavin Winger | 96 | |
Brannon Tangquist | 104 | ||
Top Individuals | Ashton Shockman | 117 | |
1. Max Wilson (Ros) 74 | Tate Hamre | 131 | |
2. Justin Thompson (Ros) 80 | |||
3. Teagan LaPlante (Ros) 81 | |||
4. Markus Nelson (Ros) 81 |