Van-Far’s Smith, Reading reach state early in careers

By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor
Posted 5/20/23

Together, Cody Smith and Pacey Reading had about four and half years of golfing experience heading into the state tournament.

Van-Far State Golf Photo Gallery

On Monday and Tuesday at the …

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Van-Far’s Smith, Reading reach state early in careers

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Together, Cody Smith and Pacey Reading had about four and half years of golfing experience heading into the state tournament.

Van-Far State Golf Photo Gallery

On Monday and Tuesday at the Class 1 state meet at Country Club of Missouri in Columbia, the pair represented Van-Far to give the school its first representation at state since 2019 — a year the school won districts to send a full team. The senior Smith finished 33rd out of about 80 golfers after shooting a two-day score of 179, or 35-over par and 10 strokes from the top 15 to medal, while the freshman Reading sat in a four-way tie for 59th with a 193. 

They both said better weather would’ve resulted in lower scores for everybody as it rained part of the day Monday and the course was wet on Tuesday but were happy to experience the bigger nature of the state tournament. 

“It was very good competition, and it’s fun to be playing with people you haven’t played with before,” Smith said

“Playing in the town with houses sitting around with bunkers and water is different from the modern course we have around where we play,” Reading said. “There were only seven freshmen here and I was lucky to be seven out of 80 kids here.”

Each recorded Day 2 scores that were better than the rainy Day 1 as Smith shot an 88 to improve on a 91 and Reading had a 96, which was better than his 97 on Monday. 

“(Tuesday) was a lot better. The rain hurt (on Monday),” Reading said. “I had nine holes with rain.”

“It was raining a lot when we were playing,” Smith said. “For me, it was the last four holes.”

Head coach Nate Isenberg said the “puddles everywhere” on Monday mean he couldn’t possibly be upset with the higher scores on the first day, but he isn’t upset with either’s play in the whole tournament. The sport demands a lot in terms of consistency so more experience over time will only help each of them as Smith focuses on competing in college at North Central Missouri College in Trenton and Reading tries to make it back to state next year.

“Overall, I’m happy with both of them. Just getting here and competing is all you can ask for,” Isenberg said. “It’s very difficult because you’re walking 18 (Monday) and you’re walking 18 (Tuesday). It’s wet, muddy and you’re soaked so it’s definitely difficult to have two great back-to-back days. If you did, you’re in the top 10 or 5.”

Reading had a hole on each day where it didn’t end in a timely manner while Smith started out hot on the first nine holes on Day 2 with a birdie but then struggled more when he played the front nine. 

Isenberg said the back nine at the Columbia course is hard and the front nine “can sneak up on you every now and then.” The well-maintained course has its fair shares of trees and bunkers and water hazards on four or five holes. The trees presented a problem much of the time for the Van-far golfers.

“Once you hit one, you usually find another,” Isenberg said. “That just seems how it goes. Trees definitely got us a couple of times.”

Isenberg said the years from both of his golfers were impressive as they each were always in the top four of five at every meet in which the Indians competed. Smith “just couldn’t miss” at districts when he shot a 79, or nine-over par, at Heritage Hills Golf Course Moberly to tie for third to follow last year when he missed state qualification by eight strokes. Reading tied for 15th with an 87 at districts after a rough conference meet to help lead the Indians to a fifth-place finish out of 15 schools.

“Getting off the tee box for sure and putting (helped me this year),” Smith said. 

“You’ve got to be able to make putts because those three putts hurt,” Reading said. “Hitting greens and making putts is the big thing to making pars and birdies.”

Given this information, Isenberg said Smith will do well in college if he maintains a strong mentality to avoid getting frustrated while Reading can be a four-time state qualifier and eventually a state medalist if he improves on his drives and bunker shots. 

“This year was just experience to see what state was like,” Reading said. “I’m happy to be here and to play 36 holes. I didn’t come in to think I’d be all-state or win it (this first year).”

Look for this story and other state golf recaps in next week's editions of the Mexico Ledger.


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