BHS golf team battles elements in two-day Missoula tournament
It wasn't exactly golfing weather last Thursday and Friday, but Bigfork High School's golf team trudged through the nasty conditions of the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational in Missoula and fared well at the two-day tournament.
Sara Keenan, Bigfork's lone girl, placed third among the 24 girls who entered the tournament.
On Thursday, she finished with an 87 at the Larchmont Golf Course and the following day she had a 90 at the Missoula Country Club.
"She did well," said Steve Hullett, Bigfork High School head golf coach. "She's getting more confident all the time. That's what she needs is to get her confidence up and she will keep doing better."
Hayley Folkvord from Three Forks was the top finisher with 159 and Loyola's Maggie Crippen had the second lowest score with 166.
The boys team from Bigfork placed third after two days of play with a score of 712. Loyola was first with 634, Conrad was second with 683 and Three Forks placed fourth with 716.
"Considering the conditions, they did well," Hullett said. "It was like playing in the winter. We had everything you could think of. It rained, snowed, hailed, got real windy and I think the sun may have even came out for a minute."
The boys also played Larchmont the first day and the country club the second, which provided a variance in the playing conditions as well.
"The country club is a tougher course," Hullett said. "It has a lot of trees so you can get in a lot of trouble real easy there."
Kyle Parker had the best showing among the Bigfork boys with a two day score of 161.
His best day was at Larchmont where he shot a 79. He had an 82 the following day.
"I was happy with how he did," Hullett said. "He'll be shooting real good numbers before too long."
This was the second tournament that Bigfork has competed in this year, but Parker missed the first one due to rehearsals for Cowabunga.
Steven Schuster was a leader for the Vikings as well with his score of 173. He actually did better while playing at the country club as he shot an 85 on Friday, which was three strokes less than his Thursday score.
"He did OK. He just needs to learn to not hit the ball so far so he doesn't have to use all the shorter clubs so much that he's not as good with," Hullett said. "That's where he gets into trouble."
Also playing for the Bigfork boys last week were Blake Weimer who had a score of 190, Ronnie Greiner who finished with 192 and Ryan Conway who had a 198.
"They get off to rough starts and bury themselves so deep that they can't get back out, but they're coming along," Hullett said of his less experienced golfers.
The team hosts the Bigfork Invitational at 10 a.m. today, April. 15, at Eagle Bend Golf Course.