Vassar, Telles lead TD to 4th place

Quite an accomplishment, especially given how the weather conditions changed dramatically, from warm to blustery with 20 mile an hour winds affecting shots.

Snodgrass carded a 104, Taylor finished his tournament at 120, and Adams came through with his 124, to follow up Tyler Vassar, who placed second overall after a 76, and Aidan Telles placed third overall with his 81 to give The Dalles fourth place in Umatilla.

“You could tell that Jonathan, Spencer and David were nervous. After the first hole, they had high scores,” TD head coach Dan Telles said. “Then they started calming down a little and they battled. Being inexperienced, consistency and making contact on the ball are going to be big factors. They did fine. It was good for them to get their first tournament under their belt. The nice thing is they all want to get better.”

Vassar ended up with 38s on the front and back nine, while Aidan Telles kept himself in contention with a 41-40, as the Riverhawk duo finished behind medalist, Jared Geier, of Pendleton (75).

After Geier, Vassar and Aidan Telles were La Grande’s Braden Bell (86) and Cruz Gallegos (87).

With the play of Bell and Gallegos, La Grande won the tournament title with its 357, finishing three strokes ahead of Pendleton (360) and 10 shots in front of Hermiston (370).

The Dalles totaled 381 for fourth place in the four-team field.

Playing without Jacob Ford, out due to an illness, the Riverhawks were at the top of the pack, so it gave coach Telles feelings of optimism, because Ford can get within the high 70s or low 80s, which would have placed TD within range of La Grande.

“As a team, they are shooting for 330. We’ll get that,” coach Telles said. “Once Ford gets back and both Tyler and Aidan improve a little, it’ll make a 30-40 stroke difference. We want our guys to compete against themselves and shoot better scores. They want to get in the 70s or 80s, so I feel that is a good goal for them. It can be done. They just have to be more focused on the consistency of their strokes.”

The Dalles hosted its annual Riverhawk Invitational on Friday. After spring break, the team heads to Pendleton for the Wildhorse Invitational at noon on Monday, April 2.