BURLINGTON — In the words of Burlington head boys golf coach Brian Mumm, ‘the course won’ on Monday.
That was the feeling of the head coach of the team that called the course home. The visiting Ottumwa Bulldogs certainly gave Flint Hills Golf Course every chance to have the advantage during Monday’s 18-hole dual against the Grayhounds.
“We actually showed up here a little late. We didn’t really even have a chance to warm-up,” Ottumwa head boys golf coach Kyle Creamer said. “You kind of had to read greens as you got up there. Some were playing fast. Some were playing really slow. You just had to take a guess when you got up there.”
Considering all of those factors, Ottumwa posted a very impressive team score of 317 winning the dual by 43 strokes with six golfers posting scores below 85 on a course that could make any wayward stroke prove to be very costly. Besides trying to read the greens, some of which left putts several feet short, golfers had to deal with tough rough and bad bounces that would leave balls several feet off the greens for any shot that might go a few feet long.
Tomas Rascon seemed to be the only Burlington golfer that seemed immune to the tough greens and bad bounces, earning medalist honors with a round of 73. Ottumwa, meanwhile, came within a stroke of matching their 18-hole team score of the season paced by a stellar round of 76 by Logan Storto, who played steady golf around the course not showing an improved short game but improved iron play culminating on the 18th hole by finding the green from out of the right-hand rough on the way to finishing with a closing par.
“I’ve been working a lot more recently on the shots from 150 yards and in,” Storto said. “I put the driver away at practice. I wanted to practice the shots that have the most strokes in them.”
The Bulldogs made a six-stroke improvement from their fourth-place finish at Fox Run Golf Course in their home invitational tournament, posting a 323 in the team’s first competition in two weeks. Ottumwa got career-best rounds from both Milo Canny and Gavin Monaghan, both shooting rounds of 80 to help bring the overall team score down with Chase Thompson closing out the scoring with a round of 81.
“Every team is looking for depth. Guys like Milo, Gavin and Tate (Harness) are continuing to improve their scores and giving us a chance to count some pretty low individual scores,” Creamer said. “Chase and Stephen Brinegar (82) both struggled by their own standards, so to still bring in a 317 is pretty good for us. If Mile and Gavin continue to improve and get their scores a few shots lower, we’re going to have a chance to post a pretty low score as a team when we get to districts.”
Monaghan produced his highest varsity finish for the Bulldogs, matching Canny for the third-lowest overall round on Monday. The round of 80 proved to be a six-stroke improvement for the Ottumwa sophomore, who had posted a career-best round of 86 at the Ottumwa Invitational last week.
“I hadn’t broken 100 before the district meet last year, shooting a 96 there (at Briarwood Golf Club in Ankeny). I came back and broke 90 the first time in our first meet of this year at Geneva (Golf Course in Muscatine),” Monaghan said. “What really helped in this round was focusing on every single shot. Tee shots were big for me. I think I hit around 14 fairways. When you put yourself in good spots, you can hit greens and you can hit putts.”
