OTTUMWA – It wouldn’t have taken their best round of the season to make it to the Iowa High School Boys State Golf Tournament.
Just something fairly close.
Ultimately, the Ottumwa Bulldogs dug themselves a hole that proved to be too deep to climb out of on their home course with a trip to the Briarwood Golf Club on the line. Double bogeys on two of the first three holes recorded by Bulldog players set the tone for a tough day at the Class 4A state qualifying meet at the Ottumwa Golf and Social Club.
When it was all over, Ottumwa finished just a couple shots below their season average with a season-ending score of 322, finishing seventh overall in the district tournament. Ankeny (298), North Scott (303) and West Des Moines Valley (305) earned the three tickets given to the top three teams to compete this Monday and Tuesday in Ankeny at the boys state golf tournament.
Despite coming up short of achieving a lofty dream of advancing to state as a team for the first time since 2016, Ottumwa head boys golf coach Kyle Cremer felt good about the overall season. The Bulldogs ultimately proved during the year producing a score capable of qualifying for state was possible, posting a season-low mark of 301 just two weeks earlier in Indianola at the Steve Spray Invitational, a score that would have allowed Ottumwa to advance to state as the district runner-up.
“Considering how we started during those first few holes, I think we played well,” Cremer said. “Being five-over-par after our first few holes, to wind up for the day just 34-over-par as a team isn’t too bad. If you take away that shaky start, we would have been right where we wanted to be.”
Entering the day with a 324 scoring average, Cremer was hoping the Bulldogs would shoot below 320. Ottumwa was able to right the ship midway through the round, taking advantage of easier scoring on the front nine after starting on holes 9-12 leaving the Bulldogs just 30 shots over par, which would have been good enough for a round of 318, with three holes to play for each golfer.
Ultimately, however, just breaking 320 would not have been enough to earn a ticket to the state tournament this year. West Des Moines Valley’s score of 305 proved to be the highest overall score for any of the 12 teams in the four district tournaments to qualify for state, forcing Ottumwa to produce the team’s second-lowest score of the season and finish 20 strokes below their season scoring average.
“Our goal was to shoot our season low. It just didn’t work out that way,” Cremer said. “Once the guys got the nerves out, they were fine.”
Chase Thompson made a late run at making it to state as an individual, ultimately leading the Bulldogs with a round of 77. Like his teammates, Thompson’s round got off to a rough start with a double bogey on the long 480-yard par-5 12th hole.
“I set myself for a good start. I was on the green in two shots and just hit two hit two really bad chips,” Thompson said. “You never want to start out a round with a double bogey. As the round went on, I just started to catch fire.”
With even-par (72) ultimately being the number needed to advance to state, Thompson made a much-needed birdie on the 356-yard opening hole of the course before bouncing back from a bogey on the second hole, posting an eagle on the 436-yard part-5 third hole to get back to two-over par for the tournament. Thompson bounced back from a bogey on the fourth by posting a birdie on the fifth, moving back within two strokes of a state qualifying berth with six holes left.
“That eagle really helped,” Thompson said. “Ultimately, I just wasn’t able to capitalize on anything. I just missed way too many putts.”
That frustration came out as Thompson made his way to the ninth hole still two strokes out of a state tournament berth with three holes left. Needing at least a par to put himself in position to post a pair of birdies on the final two holes, Thompson missed a short par putt effectively ending the state tournament hopes for the Ottumwa senior.
“I had a feeling that 18 pars would have gotten you into the state tournament,” Thompson said. “I might have taken a few more time on a few more putts to make sure the speed was right. I got some unlucky bounces, some bad breaks and a few mental mistakes. Those mental mistakes are really what cost you.
“That putt I missed on nine kind of reminded me of the same short putt I missed on 18 at last year’s state qualifying meet. It was the exact same feeling where it just felt like it wasn’t going to happen. I had fun playing golf at Ottumwa. You’re never going to forget the memories you make out here. This was my best year of golf yet.”
Ottumwa’s top returning golfer, Stephen Brinegar, posted a seven-over-par round of 79 on Monday coming up seven strokes short of a state berth. Brinegar was able to steady his round after a six-over-par start over the first three holes.
“I was just spraying the ball all over the place. It was almost a guess where I was going to hit the ball,” Brinegar said. “I figured out something different after the third hole. I just didn’t hit the ball the way I wanted to at the start. It’s something I’m going to keep on working on during the offseason.”
Logan Storto finished with a round of 81 in his final district tournament for Ottumwa. Gavin Monaghan, who broke 100 for the first time in last year’s state qualifier, closed out his sophomore season posting a round of 85 for the Bulldogs, Milo Canny added a round of 87 and Tate Harness produced a round of 88 in his postseason debut.
“You can see the progression of our young players. If they keep putting in the time and work in the offseason, hopefully they’ll take some big jumps going into next season,” Cremer said. “All the guys are committed and talking about how to get better even this year before the weather gets too cold. They just have to put in the work to get better before we tee it up next year.”
