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Tigers second in home tourney
The course conditions weren't the best due to damage caused by the previous weekend's storm. The weather conditions weren't the best -- cloudy and unseasonably cool -- due to the weather system that's supposed to bring storms this week. But Fort Scott High finished in second place as a team and won three individual medals in their home tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course Monday.
"Putting under these conditions was very difficult," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. "The greens are trying to rebuild themselves with the help of the course superintendent. We certainly feel sorry for all the citizens who suffered something significantly greater than putting green damage. But that affected the play and the kids did pretty well, considering."
Independence was the team champion with a four-man score of 335 over 18 holes. The Tigers were 10 strokes behind and eight of the top 10 medalists were from either Indy or Fort Scott.
Independence had five players in the top 10 led by winner Logan Taylor, who shot 41 on the front nine and 38 on the back to finish with a 79 as the Bulldogs' No. 4 golfer. Fort Scott's Jonathan Allen followed with 41-41--82, winning a tie-breaker for second place with Indy's Dillon Swanson (42-40). Connor Antonetti finished fourth for the Tigers at 43-40--83.
"I'm very pleased with the kids and how they played, especially Jonathan and Connor," Klassen said. "Both of them experienced some difficulty. But overall, they played well, consistently, and I saw both of them play a little bit during the course of the round. They recovered well and struck the ball well."
Chanute's Brady Roush (41-45) won a tie-breaker over Indy's Keenan Nutt (39-47) for fifth place after both finished at 86. Fort Scott's Tucker Horn (40-47) won a tie-breaker with Labette County's Aaron White (45-42) for seventh with scores of 87. Indy's Eric Schlange (46-42) won a tie-breaker over teammate Calvin Hugo (42-46) for ninth at 88.
"Tucker should be proud of how he did," Klassen said. "He's shown gradual improvement and I hope he shows that through the balance of the season."
Allen has medaled in each of the Tigers' four tournaments this season. This was Antonetti's third medal and Horn's second after posting his best score of the season.
Dane Ramsey rounded Fort Scott's four-man team score with his 43-50--93, his best of the season. Clayton Hixson, playing his first varsity tournament, finished at 53-45--98 and Anthony Sercer shot 43-56--99.
Taylor Nielsen also played, shooting 48-55--103. As a seventh player, his score would not have counted toward the team total.
"I hope Clayton will be able to stay under 100 and get down to 90," Klassen said. "Taylor stumbled a bit today. He's shot better over the course of the year and I think he'll improve. Dane and Anthony, if they can get their score under 90, they can certainly help us and they've continued working hard."
The entire course was used but temperatures that began in the upper 50s and dropped during the tournament and strong south winds were more of an issue for the golfers.
"The weather was cold but it was the same for everyone," Klassen said. "Everyone played well, I thought, under the conditions."
The Tigers will play at Parsons at 9 a.m. next Monday as they make up the first of the four Southeast Kansas League designated tournaments. The Fort Scott tourney was essentially a preview with no teams outside the league present but Coffeyville not in attendance.
"We have to come out of the chute playing well if we're going to compete in the SEK," Klassen said. "Coffeyville has done well this season. We have a chance, I think, looking at this score, to compete in the SEK in the top three places, which would certainly be a reasonable goal for us. But we're going to have to play well."
Team scores
1. Independence (IN) 335 (Taylor 79, Swanson 82, Nutt 86, Hugo 88), 2. Fort Scott (FS) 345 (Allen 82, Antonetti 83, Horn 87, Ramsey 93), 3. Chanute (CH) 383 (Roush 86, Reaves 96, Funk 97, Gricke 104),
4. Labette County (LC) 393 (White 87, Rexwinkle 98, Sheets 102, Nelson 106), 5. Pittsburg 429 (Austin 95, Smith 106, Commons 107, Sams 121), 6. Parsons 448 (Brewer 105, Newland 113, Link-Curnutte 114, Walker 116).
Medalists
1. Logan Taylor, IN, 41-38--79; 2. Jonathan Allen, FS, 41-41--82; 3. Dillon Swanson, IN, 42-40--82; 4. Connor Antonetti, FS, 43-40--83; 5. Brady Roush, CH, 41-45--86;
6. Keenan Nutt, IN, 39-47--86; 7. Tucker Horn, FS, 40-47--87; 8. Aaron White, LC, 45-42--87; 9. Eric Schlange, IN, 46-42--88; 10. Calvin Hugo, IN, 42-46--88.