By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Rockhurst Hawklets flew past a 21-team field assembled at the Bill & Payne Stewart Golf Course on Thursday to compete for top honors in this year’s MSU Relays Invitational.
The Hawklets posted a tournament low 295 to grab this year’s championship. Placing second at the event were the Glendale Falcons who carded a 321. The Rolla Bulldogs, who registered a 331, finished third.
“I’m really proud of our kids’ performance today. You know they had to get up this morning at 4 a.m. in order for us to be able to leave at 5 a.m. for the tournament,” said Rockhurst coach Kevin McGill. “Then they had to ride on the bus for two and a half hours to get here. To do all of that and then post a sub 300 score on a day that has been rainy, windy and cold is a real testament to their resolve to come here and win.”
“The weather did make things pretty tough at the start this morning but our guys grinded it out, made some putts and got the job done,” he said. “It’s going to be a good trip home today.”
The Hawklets were led by Stewart Meyers and Luke Walsh.
Meyers, who finished as the MSU Relays top medalist, carded a blistering five under par 65 while teammate Luke Walsh registered a one over par 71.
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“I was able to keep the ball in the fairway today and as a result I had a lot of opportunities for pars and birdies,” said Meyer. “But I’ve been playing with a lot of confidence and when I teed off today I felt like I was one of the best players in the tournament. I think I proved that today.”
“Stewart was in the zone today,” said McGill. “Especially on the greens where he putted lights out. I haven’t had an opportunity to go through all of our stats yet but I think he may have had fewer than twenty-five putts.”
Rounding out the Hawklet’s scorecard were: Kyle Stanley- 77, James Hepler- 82 and William Fitzgerald- 89.
Glendale High’s Chris Obert was equally proud of his young Falcons.
“This was our first tournament of the year so I’m very pleased with the way our kids performed today,” said Obert. “After not being able to play last year due to COVID it could have been easy for our kids to have been out of the swing of things this season, when it comes to playing competitively, but that wasn’t the case at all. They played exceptionally well today.”
“We’ve really been working hard this year and, even though I feel like I could have played better today, I think as a team we did well,” said the Falcons’ Max Bowman.
The Falcons’ were led by Adam Floyd who logged a 77. Other Falcon’s contributing to the Glendale effort were Bowman- 80, Travis Peak- 81, Luke Ogden- 83 and Mathew Barnes- 93,
Jonathan Jordan posted a 77 to pace third place Rolla. Also posting scores for the Bulldogs were Evan Colench- 83, Nate Pulliam- 85, Nick Jones- 86 and Wyatt Bahr- 89.
Leaderboard- Teams
1- Rockhurst- 295
2- Glendale ‘A’- 321
3- Rolla- 331
4- Kickapoo ‘A’- 333
5- Lebanon- 342
6- Bolivar- 351
7- Buffalo- 353
8- Kickapoo ‘B’- 359
9- Catholic- 363
10- Glendale ‘B’- 370
11- Willard- 376
12- West Plains- 379
12- Camdenton- 379
14- Willow Springs- 397
14- NCA- 398
16- Waynesville- 412
17- Liberty- 415
18- Central- 417
19- Hillcrest- 444
20- Parkview- 446
21- Thayer- 460
Medalists
1- Stewart Meyers- 65- Rockhurst
2- Luke Walsh- 71- Rockhurst
3- Aiden Asley- 75- Bolivar
T4- Jonathan Jordan- 76- Rolla
T4- Adam Floyd- 76- Glendale ‘A’
T4- Kyle Stanley-76- Rockhurst
7- Hadley Louderbaugh- 77- Buffalo
8- Gunnar Schuister- 78- Camdenton
9. Gaige Lewis- 79- Kickapoo ‘A’
T10- Corey Elliott- 80- Glendale ‘A’
T10- Max Bowman- Glendale ‘A’
