Hawk golfers seeking open fairways, greens

It may be hard to visualize it right now being as the greens and fairways are still blanketed in late-winter snow, but the high school golf season has already begun; albeit not out on the greens and fairways.

“We haven’t been able to practice out on the course yet,” Thompson Falls coach Mike Bates said Tuesday. “But I noticed some open grass on the grounds at the junior high today, so we will go there and work on our chipping some.”

Although the Hawks’ first scheduled match is the Florence Invitational in Hamilton on March 30, Bates says that match has already been rescheduled for April 19. Thompson Falls’ second scheduled outing, the Eureka Invitational in snow-rich Lincoln County set for April 4, is also in jeopardy of being rescheduled, Bates said.

“It’s been pretty sad around here with the weather,” Bates said, “and with our numbers. We thought we would have a pretty good team but did not get the turnout we expected.”

Junior Ethan Brown, who earned All-State B honors by finishing eight overall in last year’s State B tournament, returns to lead the Hawk boys, and sophomore Megan Baxter, who took 36th with the girls in the State B, will now lead the Lady Hawks.

Last year’s team leaders Dylan Beckman, who finished fourth among the B boys, and Elsie Brown, who won 11th among the B girls, have both graduated.

Sophomore Nathan Ostwald and freshman Ben Croft round out the Hawk boys’ team and sophomore Jolia Buchanan completes the Lady Hawk squad presently.