Simmons still finding his footing

Simmons still finding his footing

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

WORLAND - Worland youth golfer Karsten Simmons finished another leg of the Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour on April 14-15. For this outing, the RMJGT had Simmons battling it out in the 16-19 age division at Overland Golf Course in Overland, Colo.

Simmons finished third, shooting a 75, 72-147 in the cold and windy tournament.

Starting the second and final round, Simmons was five strokes away from leader Ben Daane and determined to challenge for the top spot.

"On Sunday Karsten was really knocking the flags down during his warm-up session and had a lot of confidence heading to the first tee. He knew he was five strokes off the lead and I had seen that look before. When Karsten wants something bad enough he goes after it," said Randy Simmons, Karsten's father.

Through the first three holes on Sunday, Simmons had two pars and one eagle to bring him within three strokes of Daane. However, the fourth hole provided some trouble. The wind carried one of Simmons' shots on to the lip of a sand trap. He was able to get out of the trap but took a bogey after all was said and done.

Simmons got back on track picking up back-to-back birdies on holes five and six, bringing him to three-under-par for the round.

The seventh hole ended up being the worst of the day for Simmons. A mix up on the tee boxes wound up costing Simmons a two-stroke penalty and picking up a double-bogey for the hole.

"The tour director had them playing ready golf to keep the pace of play moving. This is where Karsten's luck had shifted. Karsten went to the tee box and teed off. Only discovering that there was a hidden tee box 50 yards back with close to the same color of tee markers. The tee markers at the course are brass and bronze colored and it was easy to mistake them. He had to re-tee from the back tees that were hidden on a 450-yard par-4," said Randy Simmons.

Simmons closed out the front with pars on eight and nine. The back nine was not as up and down for Simmons, two bogeys on holes 10 and 16, but he did pick up one more birdie on 13 to close out the round even.

Added Randy Simmons about Karsten's play on holes eight and nine: "Hole eight was a par-3. I was down by the green and watched his ball flying in. The ball almost landed in the hole. He very seldom misses these but he missed it and made par. Hole nine is a technical par-5 with a huge cottonwood in the middle of the fairway. Karsten just rolled his second shot off the back of the green. He made a wedge shot just outside of his high make percentage area."

With the weather warming up Simmons will be back in action soon with tournaments scheduled in Winsor, Colorado, Sheridan and Powell.