Marshalltown boys golf falls to Roosevelt on fifth-score tiebreaker
The Marshalltown boys’ golf team got its first real reminder that every stroke counts during competition.
The Bobcats tied for the low score but lost on the fifth-score tiebreaker as Des Moines Roosevelt edged MHS for first place at Thursday’s Iowa Alliance Conference triangular at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course.
Both the Bobcats and Roughriders shot 317 as a team, but Roosevelt left with the first-place medals after posting a lower fifth score than host Marshalltown.
Roosevelt’s Finley Newman earned medalist honors with his even-par round of 35, while Jackson Kepley of Ames was the runner-up at 36. The Little Cyclones were third in the team standings (166).
Marshalltown captured the next two individual spots with Joe Greazel shooting 37 and Parker Christen carding a 39, but both golfers three-putted on their finishing hole, making for a hard way for the day’s lesson to get itself across.
“In a nine-hole meet, every stroke is magnified because you don’t have the chance to bounce back,” said MHS head coach Lucas Johnson. “We got some solid play throughout the lineup. Everybody was right there thinking that they were going to potentially be a counting score, which is one of the things that you want to see, especially early in the season.
“But definitely a learning experience when you look back and especially the way that we finished some of those holes with some costly three-putts. Those are the little things that you look back on.”
Behind Newman’s even-par 35, Roosevelt’s 157 included a 40 from Will Dix as well as 41s from Marcus Clutter, Will Anderson and Hammer Rivas.
The Bobcats got scoring rounds from Greazel, Christen, Gavin Misek (40) and Bryson Payne (41). MHS also got matching 43s from Trae Misek and Jacob Seberger.
“Golf as a team game, the more that you can have players feeling like they are going to need to count is a good thing,” Johnson said. “This is the first time Bryson Payne’s score has counted in his career, and that was one of his goals today. You never want to rely solely on your top four players because then there’s a complacency that often sets in with that No. 5 or 6 score, and that can be the difference between us winning and not winning.”
The Bobcats moved to 3-1 on the year and get a brief reprieve for the start of school before returning to action Friday, Aug. 29, with the Dick Garth Invitational at Highland Park Golf Course in Mason City.
“The game of golf is played over a lot of holes, and you can look at a lot of different shots that could have gone differently,” Johnson said. “I think at the end of the day, what this shows is that the Iowa Alliance Conference is really up for grabs between a lot of schools.”
Marshalltown meets up with host Mason City and fellow Alliance schools Des Moines Lincoln, Fort Dodge and Waterloo East as well as Waterloo West for next Friday’s tournament.
American Legion Memorial Golf Course, front nine, par 35
Team Standings — 1. Des Moines Roosevelt 157, 2. Marshalltown 157, 3. Ames 166.
Medalist — Finley Newman, DMR, 35; Runner-up — Jackson Kepley, AMES, 36.
DM ROOSEVELT (157) — Newman 35, Will Dix 40, Marcus Clutter 41, Will Anderson 41, Hammer Rivas 41, Eli Boerner 44.
MARSHALLTOWN (157) — Joe Greazel 37, Parker Christen 39, Gavin Misek 40, Bryson Payne 41, Trae Misek 43, Jacob Seberger 43.
AMES (166) — Kepley 36, Landyn Lohman 41, Cade Anderson 44, Riley Becker 45, Sam Becker 47, Troy Wandling 50.
