CROOKSTON BOY’S GOLF TAKES SECOND PLACE, TREY CHRISTOPHERSON TAKES MEDALIST HONORS AT THE WOLFPACK INVITATIONAL

The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Golf team finished in second place amongst 14 teams at the Wolfpack Invitational played at the Tianna Golf Course in Walker. Crookston was led by Trey Christopherson’s 81 which tied him with Tate Usher from Pine River for co-Medalist. Detroit Lakes won the Invitational with a 347, four strokes ahead of the Pirates.

Trey Christopherson led the way for the Pirates while also leading the field with an impressive 81 on a challenging course. “(Trey) has led us in both of the first two days,” said Crookston head coach Steve Kofoed. “That’s good especially with the fact that Trey started with probably four or five over par in his first three holes, I know he three-putted two-holes in a row in those first three, but then kind of found a way to get himself into a good string of pars. That’s Trey’s game, he’s not necessarily the guy who’s going to go out and make a whole bunch of birdies, but he can get on a run where he makes six or seven holes in a row where he’s only one or two over par, and that adds up to a pretty good score when its all said and done.” Quinn Westlake carded the second-best round for Crookston turning in an 89. “Quinn was just kind of par, bogey, par bogey,” noted Kofoed. “Again, some of the mistakes we saw were just putting woes, chipping woes, but again those are things that are fixable with us being able to get out on Minakwa and get some practice time in.” Brock Heppner followed close behind with a 90. “Brock ended up hitting his best two holes, which were the ones I watched it on,” added Kofoed. “He didn’t hit, maybe, his best shot to open up on a par three. He missed in the right spot, ended up fifteen feet from the hole, an easy two-putt for par. Then on hole one, which is a tricky little dogleg right with some bunkers off the tee, he made the smart play with an iron and stuck it on the green and made birdie. He played well on a few holes, but then as he said he kind of lost the ability to hit short wedges in his last five or six holes and that kind of ballooned his score pretty quickly to finish.” Ben Andringa overcame some challenging holes to finish with a 91. “Ben was I would kind of say similar to Trey,” added Kofoed. “He was kind of getting frustrated with the fact that his short game was letting him down.” Jack Ricord wrapped up the Pirates day with a 93. “Jack had a couple of big numbers. Otherwise, I think he ended up playing pretty solid,” concluded Kofoed. “Again some of the same things with his short game around the greens, he had a couple of big numbers that added up to his score pretty quick.” Given the tricky conditions the course presented, Kofoed is looking forward to his team getting a chance to practice, “the golf course definitely won the day. When an 81 is medalist, that’s kind of making the statement. It wasn’t the nicest day playing with a wind blowing pretty strongly out of the northwest. The golf course just opened as we finished to the public. It’s good for these guys to get out and get some competition if nothing else now it’s just a matter of us hopefully having Minakwa open up next week so we can actually get out on the range, hit some full swings and be able to put some time in. More importantly, they’ll be able to go out and just play after practice.”

The Pirates return to the links on Wednesday when they compete in the Fertile-Beltrami/Red Lake Falls Invitational with nine holes played on each course beginning at 9:30 a.m.