Crooked River course befuddles TD boys golfers

The Hawks, guided by Coach Dan Telles, shot a team score of 386, not far behind runner-up Redmond at 374. The host Crook County High Cowboys won the tourney with a score of 344. The Ridgeview Ravens were fourth (392), followed by the Hood River Valley High Eagles (420) and the Pendleton High Buckaroos (445). The Hawks have finished third or better in all four of their tournaments this season.

“That’s a great course and a fun course to play, but some holes are tricky,” said Telles. “On one hole you shoot over a canyon, so that’s pretty fun. The kids played well. Our No. 1-player (Joe Codding) got into trouble on the back nine, but the other kids all responded well. They backed him up, they supported him, and they bore down and played well. It was the only time this year that we didn’t count Joe’s score in the team score.”

The Dalles was led by junior Kenneth Miller, who shot 86 and finished tied for second overall with Beau Parker of Crook County. Palmer Smith of Crook County earned the medalist award with his first-place score of 76. The Dalles’ other top scores were by junior Keeler Lawson (96), senior Chase Sam (98), sophomore Connor Sam (106) and Codding (117).

Dale Nelzen of Redmond, took fourth at 87 and HRV’s Davis Kerr finished tied for fifth at 90. Dylan Bojanowski of Ridgeview also shot 90 for fifth place.

“The weather was crazy, with some rain, followed by some sunny weather and then there were some gusty winds, too,” said Telles. “We’re still in the hunt though and we have three more tournaments to go. Joe is going to bounce back. Miller shot a good 86 and Chase had a solid 98 and he’s improving so he’ll chop down his scores. Keeler struggled with putting and he knows he can cut off strokes if he improves his putting. He had five putts on one hole, so he knows that he has to work on putting.”

The Hawks played their fifth tourney Monday at the Golf Course at Birch Creek in Pendleton (results were after the printed edition deadline). The Hawks play their sixth tournament April 18 at 8:15 a.m. at the Meadow Lakes Golf Course in Prineville.