Consistency on the links the focus for Warriors

WORLAND - Last weekend the Worland Warriors golf team cruised to a dominant win in the home tournament at the Green Hills Golf Course on August 17-18.

Freshman standout Karsten Simmons won the first tournament of his career shooting 72,71-143 and beating out Thermopolis' Hardy Johnson by one stroke. The four other Warrior varsity golfers finished in the top 10; JT Klinghagen was fourth (77, 77-154), Jose Galarza fifth (76, 82-158), Logan Foote sixth (84, 76-160) and Konnor Macy ninth (84, 80-164).

As a team, the Warriors won the tournament going 309, 304-613 and beat second-place Sheridan by 58 strokes. Even the Warriors JV team (Karter Dunham, James Velasquez, Mack Page and Kaden Fox) had a strong outing shooting 367, 390-766 finishing sixth and beating out the varsity teams from Kemmerer, Buffalo and Torrington.

"We broke the school record for 36-holes in relationship to par. That's always an interesting beast because golf courses have different pars. The other school record was 601 and that was shot in Thermopolis which is par-70, so when you add eight strokes a day on that we beat it out.

All five of our varsity guys shot under 80 or lower at some point during the tournament. We got JV guys shooting under 100 both days and that's really good. It's important to shoot well at home because we're also hosting conference," said WHS golf coach Chad Rose.

It was an impressive tournament for the Warriors and they were able to show just how deep this team is with all five varsity members making the top 10. Throw in that the 3A East conference tournament will be at Green Hills on September 7-8, Worland has to like their chances of raising a conference championship on their home course.

"Konnor is a great athlete and he's a true competitor and has been making a lot of progress. To have Jose, JT and Logan all in the mid-to-late-70s it shows how strong our depth is. I think we're the deepest team in the state, we just need to work on consistency. Logan has to work on coming out of the gates strong but once he hits his strides he's pretty dangerous," said Rose.

For the Lady Warriors, Rachel Carver led the charge shooting a 101, 112-213, Robyn Horath shot a 115, 114-229 and Navy Martinez went 139, 159-298.

"Rachel Carver had some good moments, Robyn is trying to build her confidence and Navy spent most the summer injured so she didn't get to play a lot, but she's been making a lot of progress in a short amount of time," said Rose.

After the dominant win at home, Worland went to Lander on Monday and Tuesday. The tournament started well for the Warriors as they jumped out to a five-stroke lead over Lander, 3A's defending state champions, after the first round. Closing out the tournament was a different story for the Warriors. Lander stormed back in round two, shooting a 308, and the Warriors could not keep up and shot a 326.

"We were in a great position with a five-stroke lead on Lander. The second day we teed off in 52-degree weather and we did not play well. In our two, three and four slots, we have to work on embracing our short game when our approach or drive don't go our way. We need to scramble for pars, that's what winners do and if we want to be winners that's what it's going to take," said Rose.

Simmons was able to pick up his second-consecutive tournament win, 70, 69-139, by beating 3A's defending individual champion, Lander's Jaren Calkins in a playoff.

"Karsten went into a playoff and in the playoff, he hit it to five feet for his first playoff win and second consecutive tournament win. For the year he's four-under par and that's incredible," said Rose.

The Tigers won the tournament by 13 strokes and it served as a great teaching moment for the Warriors. The 3A title is the goal this season and if they are to check that off consistency is going to be the key.

"We got caught the second day and Star Valley played well the second day too. We just need to focus on being consistent and finding ways to grind and scramble when things don't go your way. We got to play against Lander which is a team we wanted to play against. They got us in the end but you're going to take losses during the season, especially in golf. Not coming out on top at this point is OK," said Rose.

Carver cracked the top 10, her first of the season, in Lander and finished ninth with a 104, 110-214. Horath went 122, 112-234 and Martinez started slow with a 135 but followed that with her best round of the year a 106, for a 241 in the tournament.

"For the girls, Navy shot 106 the second day which is great. Robyn we're still trying to get her to believe in herself because she is good. Rachel finished seventh and got a top 10," said Rose.

Worland's next tournament is in Buffalo on August 30-31 and until then they will keep working on their game and ironing out the flaws that crept up in Lander.

We're in good shape but we have to keep battling. We need to love our short game so much that if things don't go our way we're still able to make par. We're just making too many bogeys and doubles, too many poor choices off the tee so far," said Rose. "The kids are excited and we're going to keep working on consistency and short game. It's nice we'll have over a week off until Buffalo to work on those things."