From the beginning of the Class 1 state golf tournament, Van-Far knew it would be sloppy.
With the wet weather, Twin Hills Golf & Country Club in Joplin became more sloppy and muddy on the …
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From the beginning of the Class 1 state golf tournament, Van-Far knew it would be sloppy.
With the wet weather, Twin Hills Golf & Country Club in Joplin became more sloppy and muddy on the first day of competition on Monday. The Indians, which qualified a team for the first time since 2019, had to overcome slow starts before finishing seventh with 750.
Head coach Pat Connaway said the start of play was delayed until 11 a.m. and then Van-Far’s kids started slow except returning state golfer Pacey Reading, who finished with a two-day score of 176, or 32-over par, to tie for 30th.
“I think nerves got the best of us early and then we settled in,” Connaway said. “Unfortunately for us, we made too many mistakes. Instead of just taking what the course gave us and getting a bogey, we tried to make the long putt or make the spectacular shot and most of the time it back-fired which led to double and triple bogeys.”
Connaway said Reading didn’t play well with his driver, Kaleb Baskett and Nikos Connaway made costly mistakes that hurt their scores, and Kasen Christian settled in after opening his tournament with an 8 on the first hole. Baskett posted a two-day score of 188 to finish in a tie for 60th, Connaway shot a 190 to finish in a tie for 64th and Kasen Christian shot a 196 to finish in a tie for 76th.
“We had some of the first tee times on Tuesday morning (for Day 2), and we knew we had to be aggressive if we wanted to stay in contention,” Pat Connaway said. “Unfortunately, we got off to awful starts and that kind of set the tone for the round.”
Connaway said the group of six kids this season wanted to advance to state as a team from the beginning and believes that goal is attainable in the next couple of years even with Nikos Connanway and Clara Wallace graduating. He would like to specially thank Baskett’s father, Jared, for working on the kids’ swings this spring and for being a crucial part in helping the team qualify for state.
“They were a great group of kids to be around,” Pat Connaway said. “They worked hard and had a lot of fun while doing so. Late summer/early fall, they were talking about if they all played golf this year they could go to state, and they did. They are a very confident group, and they did what they set out to do.”
