Sports

Prairie West challenges golfers at state tournament

By Tyler Ohmann

06/04/2013

Bottineau senior Zack Monson and Westhope-Newburg junior Hunter Braaten concluded their high school golf season this past week at the Class B state golf tournament at Prairie West Golf Course in Mandan, N.D.

The pair both qualified for the tournament as individuals at the region tournament on May 21 to advance to the tournament.

For Monson, it was the fifth and final time that he would compete at state. The senior concluded his high school golf career with a 45th place finish after firing rounds of 93 and 85.

Monson struggled both days on the green. On day one he fought wet course conditions to place himself 65th entering the tournament’s final day.

On day two he played better, carding an 85, but succumbed to five three-putts to jump up 20 spots.

Braaten too played better on the second day. He finished in 23rd place overall after scoring 168 for a two day total.

“It was the nicest weather that I’ve played in at state,” Braaten said. “Of course I could have played better, especially the first day.”

It was Braaten’s third trip to state.

On day one, Braaten said that he got into trouble, but improved mightily on day two.

“I got myself in a lot of trouble and didn’t hit many fairways,” Braaten said. “The second day I hit a lot of fairways and greens and that helped me.”

Braaten carded an 89 on day one, but improved by 10 strokes to 79 on the tournament’s final day.
He was impressed with Prairie West’s course, but admitted struggling with bunkers and other obstacles that he hadn’t seen much throughout the season.

“This course was in really nice condition, but it was pretty tough, especially since we don’t get to play in any sand,” Braaten said. “It wasn’t too bad, but it’s small stuff like that I wish we could get to play in more often to get more practice.”

Braaten hopes that in his senior year he can improve and make one last run toward a strong state finish.

“I’m going to work hard on my short game for sure, so that I have another chance at it,” Braaten said.

Northern Lights junior, who is from Region 4 the same as Monson and Braaten, won the tournament with a two day total of 146.

As a team Northern Lights finished in fourth place with a 673, 21 strokes behind winner Kindred. It was Kindred’s second consecutive state title.