Bluejays start season strong on the links

It was a strong performance in the season-opening meet last Thursday for the Three Lakes-Phelps varsity golf team. The team traveled to Inshalla Country Club in Tomahawk for a triangular nine-hole event with the Tomahawk Hatchets and Mellen High School. Three Lakes came away in first place with a 205 score out of five scores.

Usually, the top four scores are taken out of the five varsity players, so the team would’ve shot a 162, which is a very competitive nine-hole team score.

“We took our top 10 golfers and had six of them finish in the top 10 of all players in the match. Our goal in the match was for everyone to improve upon their scores from last year. Eight of our 10 golfers played in this event last year, and seven of them all improved upon their scores, which we were very happy to see,” said Head Coach Michele Brown. “We were very happy with how the kids played. Most of them commented that their putting was the toughest problem they had. We do have indoor putting mats, but that certainly is not the same as putting on real greens. We’ve been fortunate to be outside the past week to hit balls on the range versus hitting inside into a net, and using foam balls for chipping.”

Senior Grayson Polcaster opened the season firing on all cylinders, pacing the team with a two-over 37 to finish second overall. He started his round with four bogeys, but leveled out his play by finishing two under for the final five holes with an eagle on the par-5 eighth hole and four pars.

“What a great first round of the season, and something he will expect of himself each time out. He is our No. 1 golfer, and he showed why,” stated Brown.

Junior Keira Riihamaki followed Polcaster with a round in the 30s as well, posting a four-over 39 for third place as the only girls golfer in the field. Riihamaki made two birdies and three pars as she navigated the front nine.
“She had one blowup hole but otherwise played a very nice game. I’m excited to see what she can do moving forward,” explained Brown.

Four other Bluejay golfers shot 43, including Sean Wallschlaeger, Owen Liebscher, Matthew Klein and Trenton Peterson. Senior Levi Lurvey finished with a 45 to tie for 11th, and Jack Westfall and Lachlan Mouw shot 50. Tommy Walschlaeger came in with a 59.

Brown reiterated the point from the season preview that her roster is deep this season, which is something the team did not have a year ago.

“This year, we have some real competition between 7-8 kids for five varsity spots. These kids will be pushing each other, and our lineup may change from week to week, depending on how they each are playing,” she stated. “Last year, we had five kids all season on varsity. This year, it looks like that could be much different as those kids have other teammates trying to win their spot.”

The team will have this week off before returning to action at Greenwood Hills Country Club in Wausau on Monday, April 27, and then an invitational at Bass Lake on Tuesday, April 28.