Golfers ready for divisional

Led once again by Kiley McConnell and Reed Platke, the Bulldog golf teams had a productive week in tournament play.

The girls won both the Polson and Hamilton invitational tournaments by wide margins over the nearest competitors. The boys prevailed at Polson by 17 shots over runner-up Hamilton Broncs, but fell short of upsetting Hamilton by one shot on their home course turf on Saturday.

McConnell fired an 84 at Polson and followed with 85 at Hamilton to win back-to-back medallist honors in the field of 12 teams at each site. McConnell has been fairly consistent over her last four few rounds. BreAnna Cameron finished in the top-10 at both events with rounds of 91-94.

"BreAnna continues to hit the ball exceptionally well but suffers some problem reading the greens and getting back into the flow of her game," coach Nelson said. "We're going to focus hard on getting comfortable over those putts for all the girls this week."

Danielle McCully likewise was in the top-10 at both Polson and Hamilton, with rounds of 92-95, and she helped the girls to their perfect season so far against Class A schools from Western Montana.

"Danielle is on the verge of producing some really low scores as her confidence and understanding of how to continue to improve," Nelson said. "She's a great athlete and competitor."

Klaire Taylor also had a fantastic week, posting a personal best of 87 at Polson and finishing in the top-10 at both tournaments. Her 87 at Polson placed her fourth overall in the large field of players from across the western part of the state. At Hamilton, Taylor's 99 was also a top performance and good enough to be in the top-10.

Emma Dowaliby continued to show great improvement in her ball striking and short game and lowered her scores this week with a pair of 111s at Polson and Hamilton.

"Emma is working really hard on her game and that effort is showing up on the golf course," Nelson said.

The Whitefish girls posted two of their best rounds of the season with a 351 team total at Polson to out distance the second-place Polson Pirates by more than 40 strokes. On Saturday, the girls once again beat the runner-up Pirates by 49 shots.

The boys team total at Polson of 303 matched their best of season and out distanced second-place Hamilton by 17 shots. Sophomore Reed Platke was medallist at Polson with a one-under round of 71.

"Reed started the day with bogeys on three of the first four holes before righting the ship to finish under par," Nelson said. "He showed great poise to remain patient when he had a less-than-stellar start to his round."

Platke placed tied for second at Hamilton on Saturday with Hamilton's No. 1 player, Tyler Jessup, who chipped in three times during the round and holed an eagle putt from 60 feet away.

"To Reed's credit, he shot a six-over on the front at Hamilton and turned it around for a 34 on the back nine to shoot 76," Nelson said.

Joel Mallams fired a one-over-par 73 at Polson to captured the third spot in the field of 12 teams. Zach Maassen finished with a 74, which was good for fourth overall, but he could have been lower except for two finishing holes. Maassen and Mallams shot 81 and 80 respectively at Hamilton on Saturday.

"Zach is also working exceptionally hard on his game every day, and the progress is showing at the tournaments," Nelson said.

Joe Blakemore recorded an 85 at Polson after suffering some putting issues on the freshly aerated greens.

"Joe continues to battle for the fourth spot on the varsity team and has had some low rounds this season," Nelson said.

Playing for the first time with the varsity, Tyler Schiff shot pretty well, posting an 85 at Polson.

"Tyler was only six-over through 15 holes but let it slip over the last three holes when he got a couple of bad breaks," Nelson said. "His ball plugged in the green-side bunker, and he had to try to hit it out sideways to escape the sand, which led to a triple bogey on the par three. That's a situation where you can take an unplayable lie in the bunker and perhaps be better off."

The Northwestern Class A Divisional begins Thursday, Oct. 1 (today), at Meadow Lake Golf Club. The Whitefish boys and girls are the defending champs and should be slight favorites to repeat this year.

"McConnell was the 2007 divisional champ as a freshman," Nelson said. "Platke, last year's divisional champ in a play-off, should make a run at the title again, but don't overlook Joel Mallams as possible champ."

Whitefish will host the Flatfish Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3, at Whitefish Lake, Village Greens and Buffalo Hills golf courses. The Class A State tournament will take place at Village Greens on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10.