Golfers improve as season progresses

The Thompson Falls and Plains golfers had a successful Spring Break week, facing challenges and gaining experience. Last Tuesday they played at the Hamilton Country Club in the Darby-Florence Invite amongst nine teams. The course is 18 holes, which can be more challenging because of the amount of walking and with only one chance each hole.

Blue Hawk Ellie Baxter placed second out of 30 golfers with a score of 93. "Addi Pardee and Aubrey Baxter experienced their first battle of the elements as they had to golf through some soaking, cold rain in a few of the holes," said Coach Doree Thilmony. Pardee achieved a 121 score while Aubrey Baxter scored a 130. Thilmony said that they fared very well, their scores falling in the middle of the pack.

Blue Hawk Cael Thilmony scored 94 which placed him in the top 20 of 54 golfers for the day. Theo Nygaard scored a 110, knocking off some strokes from the week before. "Mason Park had his first ever 18-hole round and picked up many learning opportunities and I see him dropping strokes as the season continues," said Thilmony. Park shot a 156.

Plains Coach Lisa Brown said that the Hamilton tournament went well for the golfers. Trotter Hallie Corbin scored a 125. Horsemen Brandt Snead achieved a 95, a few strokes up from his personal best of 92. Kort Craft shot a 125, Isaiah Paseman scored a 137 and Drew Carey hit a 108.

Plains put on the tournament Saturday at the Wild Horse Plains Golf Course hosting nine boys teams and 47 golfers and 20 total girl golfers. The course is laid out with nine holes, giving the players an opportunity to play each hole twice.

Thompson Senior Ellie Baxter earned another second place finish with an 88. And a tremendous improvement for Aubrey Baxter: she was very consistent and reduced her score by 18 strokes to achieve a 112, said Thilmony. It was Blue Hawk Addi Deal's first competition and she finished with a 134.

Cael Thilmony shot an 88 to finish sixth. With a 100, Nygaard succeeded in decreasing his score by 10 strokes. Park dropped his score a whopping 22 strokes. "He is also progressing well," said Thilmony. She added that Jacob Molina has improved a ton from last season, scoring a 133 in this competition. "We look forward to seeing his growth in the future."

Sophomore Craft led the golfers for Plains, shedding his strokes by 27 to earn a 98. Corbin dropped down to a 121, Paseman decreased his strokes to 123 and Carey reduced his shots to a 104.

"All of our golfers who golfed in Hamilton and in Plains improved their scores each tournament," said Brown.

Thompson Falls and Plains will be heading to Bigfork on Thursday to golf at Eagle Bend Golf Course and on Saturday Thompson Falls is hosting the Gary Thompson Invite at 10 a.m.