Pines golfers finish fourth to extend season

The Northland Pines varsity golf team wrapped up its regional playoff action Tuesday afternoon at Turtleback Golf and Country Club in Rice Lake, where the Eagles advanced towards sectional competition as a team with a team score of 346 to finish fourth in the 10-team event. Pines beat out Great Northern Conference rival Medford by one stroke. 

When it came down to it, every shot mattered in the end. Junior Sam Shrock cracked the top-10 individually with an 11-over 82. Junior Collin Reynolds followed suit with a 12-over 82 to take 11th place. Sophomore Garrett Byrns put on one of his best performances of the season with an 88 for Northland Pines. Eli Repenshek and Easton Otto each shot 93 and 113, respectively. 

Shrock’s round was something to watch through the front nine, where he posted a 38 on the way out. He bogeyed three of the first four holes but found a rhythm to par the last five holes on the front. The middle portion of his back nine is where he hit a bit of a roadblock. He bogeyed holes 10 and 11, but bounced back with a par on 12. Shrock then went five over on holes 13 through 16 on his way to a back-nine 44 to post his score. 

Reynolds had a steady round and only had one hole where he had worse than a bogey. He finished his round with seven pars, 10 bogeys and one double. He shot a consistent 41 on the front and 42 on the back. 

Byrns was another Eagle player who had a better front nine than back. He rattled off four bogeys in a row to start his day four over through six holes. He parred three of the last four holes on the front, but did triple-bogey the par-4 seventh hole to shoot 42 on the front. He ended up with two doubles and two pars, with the rest bogeys, for a back-nine score of 46. 

Repenshek was strong out of the gates with a 43, but another Pines player fell victim to a strong back-nine layout. The junior had a seven-shot difference in his final nine holes, where he posted a 50. He was just five over through six on the back to put his total at plus 15, but a 10 on the 17th hole weighed Repenshek down. 

Otto finished his day with one par and five bogeys, along with a mix of other scores. The Eagles then played in sectionals as a team at Spooner Golf Club this past Tuesday. The results of that meet were not available before this week’s press deadline, so check for results on the News-Review website.