Golf team ends season at District Tournament

Two members of the Ritzville Golf Team rode with Coach Nick Weishaar to the Meadowood Golf Course near Liberty Lake last Monday, May 13, with hopes of keeping alive a tenuous opportunity to move on to the State Meet.

They came close, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. The route to the State Golf Championship is slightly more complex than other sports, and a positive result this time was “not in the cards,” said Weishaar. “They gave up strokes when you can’t give up strokes.”

Weishaar explained that this year, to qualify for the playoffs, the boys half of the team had to score at least one 18-hole score of 116 or better to earn a place in the first of playoff matches at the Sub-District in Deer Park. Both Morgan Brausen and Dirk Dahlman qualified to move on.

The girls half of the team must bring in an 18-hole score of 126 or better to set a place at the Sub-District playoff meet. Molly Hane, in only her second year of play, had shot a 126 in a match earlier in the year in Clarkston and punched her Sub-District ticket at that time. Bayley Moore came four strokes short one week later at a match in Deer Park, and just missed an opportunity to further move on this year.

Once the playoffs begin, the top half of scores in the Sub-District match move on to the District matches. Brausen shot an 85 and Dahlman shot a 92 at Sub-Districts, with both scoring well enough to move on to the first of two District matches which was scheduled for the Deer Park course.

On the girls side, Molly Hane carded a 120 at the Sub-District match—her best round of the season—and although she did not move on, she was “pretty excited” about entering the first round of playoffs. In doing so, as Weishaar pointed out, she beat at least half of the girls from the 1A, 2B and 1B leagues.

Meanwhile, Brausen and Dahlman faced a District match, the score of which would be added to the Sub-District score in order to determine who moves on to the State Championship. This year, in order to move on, boys had to score a combined total of 178 or less.

Brausen had 85 strokes already in his pocket and Dahlman had 92, meaning that Brausen would need to shoot a 93 or less to qualify for State. Dahlman would have to score an 86 or less, a daunting, though possible, task. Weishaar described Brausen’s task as do-able if he plays as well as he has indicated. Considering Dahlman’s situation, Weishaar said he would have to “career it” to make the cut.

At Meadowood on Monday morning, Brausen had a rough time on the first hole and never seemed to get untracked. Weishaar described Brausen’s match as a “heartbreaker,” as he gave up six strokes and missed the cut to State by one.”

Dahlman started out with promise, playing well on the front-nine and gaining 2-3 strokes. But he gave it all back on the back half of the course, which took him out of the mix for State. In discussing the day’s performance, Weishaar attributed the outcomes due to difficulty with the “mental side” of golf. He was clear that the members of the team had played hard throughout the season and that he was proud of them.

Weishaar acknowledged that the boys were disappointed. Neither one had played in as “heavy competition” as tough as these playoffs. He also pointed out that this year required a score 10 strokes less than last year. On the bright side, when all was finished, Brausen and Dahlman ended up as the first and second alternates in the event a player cancels out of the State Finals for some reason.