Golfers play well, improvise extra meet

Despite having golfers who played well enough to take home a state win last fall, the Bobcat golf team continues to have a rocky season with players out for various reasons.

Coach Jacob Smith said he only had three golfers ready to play this past weekend for the tournament in Powell.

“With band gone, so were most of the golfers. I took three boys and they all played well,” Smith said.

The District Music Festival was this weekend, and a good number of golfers were there instead of on the greens.

Jackson Roling led the team with 78 strokes, even though they were short one player to score as a team.

“Jackson’s game is recovering from his two week trip to Costa Rica,” Smith said. “He is finding his swing and excited about the rest of the season.”

Jake Maksin finished the day with 98 strokes, and Smith said he was dealing with confidence issues on the course.

“Not his best round, but he had a heavy cloud over his head from his round at Powell last year,” Smith said. “He played well and had balanced splits. His game is improving and his head is in it.”

Additionally, Smith said Orrin Quinlan brought his all to the meet, shooting 108.

“Phenomenal first round of competition,” Smith said “Consistent splits and a great mind set.”

A meet was scheduled for Saturday in Cody, but was ultimately cancelled due to weather.

“As a fallback, we coordinated with Lander to host a 9 hole meet between our two teams,” Smith said.

Thermopolis Golf Course golf pro Donnie Bjorhus helped put together the last minute event.

And even though the troupe played a last-minute friendly match with Lander, Smith said they were still able to make it to Prom without any incident.

This isn’t the first week that Thermopolis golfers have been short athletes and have faced canceled meets.

In the last three weeks Smith saw a low turnout of golfers as a number of students were on the Spanish Club field trip, and others felt too out of practice to compete.

Additionally, Cody’s meet is the second that has been canceled this season.

However, the meet cancellations don’t come as a surprise.

Smith said early on that the Spring golf season in Wyoming has a tendency to either be a full season, or a very short one.

There were supposed to be seven meets this season, with a culminating championship meet.

“Being Spring in Wyoming there are years where you get all seven and there are years when you maybe get one, because of weather,” Smith said at the start of the season.

The golf team travels to Wright on Saturday to play on the course where State will be held next fall.

“It will be a long day of travel, but we are looking forward to the opportunity,” Smith said.