By Coach Jack Rice.
Arch rival Orcas took Friday Harbor to the cleaners on April 6; the men’s team was 191 to 210 and the women’s team 114 to 136.
The bright spot was three of the top six places on the Friday Harbor team went to 8th graders; Sam Herda, PJ Nixon and Dylan Lawson. It was a tough day for golf as it was cold and the wind off Griffin Bay was blowing 30 mph. This week the team was introduced to a new game called Hoot and Scoot. Hoot is the chip shot and scoot are the number of putts. A PGA Professional will hoot and scoot, one chip one putt, eight out of 10 times. An average high school golfer is lucky to get it on the green with one chip and into the hole with two putts. With the weather bad conditions and the strong winds blowing
if a player got the ball up in the air very high, the wind would just carry it off the fairway and sometimes out of bounds, particularly on hole seven next to the houses. Our course management for the day was to shoot a low drive out to the right, hit 5 iron short of the green side bunker away from the houses and then hoot and scoot it onto the green for an easy 5. Low drive, 5 iron, chip and 2 putts, easy 5 and they would probably lap the field. In last week’s match against Lopez, in similar conditions, 8th grader Sam Herda was playing a solid round until he stepped up on the 7th tee. Before he putted out for an 11, he bounced 3 shots off the houses to the left. Sam wasn’t going to let that happen again. On Thursday, he executed a perfect strategy against Orcas. He hit a nice driver out to the right staying away from the OB left. He then laid a nice shot 40 yards short of the green. Then chipped onto the green and with all that practice this week, he one putted for his par. The ultimate hoot and scoot, 1 chip and 1 putt. What a difference a week makes! One week the game will flog you (golf spelled backwards) and the next week you’re an up-and-coming star! That’s why we play the game. Coach Jack Rice
When the golf team complains about playing in the rain on San Juan Island, they are reminded it could be a lot more difficult as experienced by players from Central Oregon.
Friday Harbor Men’s Team: Low 4 scores: 210
Sam Herda 47 8th Medalist for FH
Ryan Rautenberg 50 11th
Finn Graham 56 9th
PJ Nixon 57 8th
Atreyu Welty 57 10th
Dylan Lawson 61 8th
Alister Kinnaman 62 10th
Orcas Men: Low 4 scores: 191
Tommy Anderson Cleveland 45 Medalist for Orcas
Sam Sutton 47
Josh spinner 48
TJ Liblik 51
Tim Malo 51
Levi Ashcraft 61
Kenneth Farani 62
Isaac Moss 64
Jacob Wright 67
Friday Harbor Women’s Team: Low 2 scores: 136
Akira Tokunaga 61 8th
Janna Rajczi 75 10th
Orcas Women: Low 2 scores: 114
Celia Groeninger 56
Lili Malo 58
Vera Sasan 60
Nisha Woolworth 66
Riley Helms 73
Alina Daoust 75
