Golfers head to playoffs

By Coach Jack Rice.

Four of the six Friday Harbor boys team members advance to the 1A2B BiDistrict Tournament. 44 Golfers teed it up to win one of the 22 spots in the bi-district Tournament playing next week back at the same golf course. The winner of this event isn’t the player with the lowest score, it’s the player who wins the 22nd place and gets to advance to the next level and continue on the journey to the state tournament.

Loomis Trail is a very difficult golf course as shown by the scores. Loomis hosted the US Open qualifier just last week. There is water on almost every hole and the fairways are so narrow you almost have to walk single file just to get to the green. In the next few days, each player will be laying out a plan on how he can play this course better next week. Each player must find a club that they can hit straight and try to keep the ball out of the water and on the fairway. Freshman Jack Hess continues to lead the team with a solid 6th-place finish. 8th grader Sam Herda finished 7th. Junior Ryan Rautenberg got hit with a two-shot penalty for hitting his ball on a practice swing and not replacing it to the original spot. The rules or golf are very complicated and on occasion, we run into situations even I’m not sure about. Freshman Finn Graham hung in there to win one of the final allocations. First-year player, junior Fisher Goosman, made a good run at winning one of the final spots but came up just a few shots short. For never picking up a golf club until 2 months ago, this young man has shown some exceptional athletic ability. I’m looking forward to a great season with him next year. And finally, to the toughest little 8th grader we have on the team, Dylan Lawson. He survived two different playoffs to win a trip to the district tournament as an 8th grader. His score of 61 missed the nine-hole cut number by one stroke. Dylan was the only player on our team to make a birdy on the tough Loomis Trail track. He scored a 2 on the third hole par three. I told Dylan, 2 goes go with almost anything, even seven, eight and nine’s!

For the girls’ team, this event was pretty much a practice round for the bi-district tournament to be held next week at the same location. Due to many scheduling conflicts and other situations, our league was allocated 22 spots for the ladies to move on to the next level. When the field was finally set, only 21 girl golfers showed up, so all players advance to the next level of competition. Friday Harbor was led by sophomore Morgan Douglass who posted a nine-hole score of 60. She was followed by junior Reese Tangney with a 66. Eighth-grader Akira Tokunaga posted a fine 66 and is well on her way to having a solid high school career in golf. Junior Janna Rajczi played in her first post-season tournament. It was great experience and she came off the course with a smile on her face. I was talking with Janna on the ferry ride home and noticed her left hand where she wore her golf glove was lily white while her arm was sunburned all the way to the sleeve on her team shirt. She said, “That was the most fun I ever had getting a sunburn!”

1A2B District Tournament May 10, 2023 Loomis Trail Golf Club

Men: Low 22 players advance to BiDistrict May 17 same course

Billy DeJong MVC 43, 43 86 1st

Gabe Tenbrog La Conner 40, 47 87 2nd

Sammy Williams La Conner 46, 42 88 3rd

Jaxon Perry MVC 46, 45 91 4th

Colton Leigh Grace 47, 43 93 5th

Jack Hess FH 46, 50 96 6th

Sam Herda FH 51, 49 100 7th

Ryan Rautenberg FH 54, 47 101 8th

Finn Graham FH 51, 54 105 16th

Top 22 out of 44 golfers advance to the BiDistrict Tournament