HRV boys golf start season with two third places

HRV hosted Pendleton, Scappoose, The Dalles and Heppner in its season opener March 14. Scappoose won 397 to 398 over The Dalles. Hood River was third at 425.

“It was some early season golf for sure and scores were high across the board,” HRV Coach Erin Mason said. “I, overall, was happy with this finish for us. Coming into this tournament with a new crew, it’s just really hard to gauge where we are at. Things always look good on the range, but it doesn’t always transfer to the course.”

Freshman Davis Kerr, playing in his first high school match, led the Eagles with a 98, good enough for fourth overall individually. Teammate Keirnan Chown shot 100 for fifth. “(Keirnan) ran into some trouble out there, but no doubt you’ll see improving scores from him as team leader,” Mason said.

Also figuring in the team score for HRV (top four finishers) was Nils Reierson at 111, and Charlie Wilson at 116. “I was excited to see Charlie in this tournament after two years in JV,” Mason said. “Nils has some real potential for us as his first season with HRV. This will be another player who will progressively get better throughout the season.”

HRV was third at The Dalles Invitational on March 18, which was won by the host Riverhawks (see related story). The Eagles were led by Kerr with a 99, followed by Chown at 102, Wilson at 121 and Travis Lage at 123. Braden Zorza shot a non-counting score of 126.

“We lost five seniors from last year’s team, so we’re kind of in a rebuilding mode right now with 18 kids and no seniors,” said Mason. “We had a couple of JV kids playing in the four and five spots and they did fine. I’m glad we have a month before we start Intermountain Conference play. We had couple of pivotal guys who weren’t here today because of spring break, and I think that would’ve reflected in our team scoring total.

“My hat’s off to The Dalles because they’re playing good golf right now. We have some work to do so that we can catch up.”

HRV and The Dalles will compete March 28 in the Pendleton Invitational Tournament at the Wildhorse Golf Course in Pendleton.