It was all business for the fifty-four athletes, representing twelve high school teams, who teed off at the Karen Kjar Golf Course in Buffalo on Monday.
But isn't that the way district tournaments are supposed to be?
It was the Class 2, District 6 tournament, and at stake, an opportunity to move on to next week's Class 2 sectionals, set to take place at the Payne Stewart Golf Course in Springfield for the top two teams, and a host of medalists in this year's tournament.
But while eight teams went out in hopes of capturing this year's district title, they soon realized that in 2016 that title would belong to the Springfield Catholic Fightin Irish.
The Irish, behind strong performances from it's entire lineup, cruised around the course to card a tournament low of 309 to grab the 2016 District 6 championship.
Springfield Catholic's NIck Walz fired a blistering round of 72. The Irish senior carded a 38 on his front nine and then registered a 34 on the backside to lead all competitors.
"I played pretty solid today. My short game was good and I made all my putts," Walz said. "My backside was especially good and an eagle on number twelve really helped to get me the momentum I needed to finish out my round."
Irish coach Don East was more than happy with the way his troops performed.
"Our kids came out and played really well today. They've come up here to practice for the past two weekends so they got to know the course pretty good," East said. "Our top two players came in at 72-74 and our number three and four players, Jake Walz and Nick Palmer, went 83-80. I'm really proud of the way they came out and took control of this tournament." Finishing out the Irish scoring was John Gambon who posted an 89.
Only two strokes behind Walz was teammate Nate Bailey who also scorched the course posting a 74.
"I hit a lot of greens in regulation today and I felt like my ball striking was keeping me in the thick of things," Walz said. "I went 37-37 with a couple of back-to-back birdies on the twelfth and thirteen holes. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way I played today.
Placing second in the tournament was last year's champion Lamar. Lamar turned in a 341 on Monday, five strokes better than third place finisher Strafford who came in at 346.
"We graduated a lot of good players last year so we've had to start somewhat over this year," Lamar head coach Dan Eckstein said about his team's second place finish. "But our kids have worked very hard this year and I'm really proud of their effort. They all stepped up and represented our school well."
Lamar was led by Dylan Maberry who recorded a 78 to claim third place in the tournament.
"I'm really happy with my round today, for me it was a career low," Maberry said. "But today was a good day for all of our team. Everybody stepped up and did their jobs. They did what we needed to do to get to the next level. Next week we'll be teeing up at sectionals."
The Irish are also looking forward to next week.
"We want to get to the big dance this year but we all know that we have to get there one week at a time," Irish coach East said. "That means that we have to play well at sectionals next week. We practice a lot at the Payne Stewart course so I think our kids will feel pretty confident going in."
Following are the Class 2 District 6 results with All-District and sectional qualifiers, both of which will be moving on to sectionals. All Springfield Catholic and Lamar team members qualified.
Tourney Results
Team Score
Springfield Catholic 309
Lamar 341
Strafford 346
Fair Grove 420
Ash Grove 434
Stockton 444
Clever 458
Mt. Vernon 461
Eldorado Springs 461
Seneca 473
Diamond 554
Buffalo DNFT
All-District Team
School Name Score
Spr. Catholic Nick Walz 38-34-72
Spr. Catholic Nate Bailey 37-37-74
Lamar Dylan Maberry 36-42-78
Spr. Catholic Nick Palmer 39-41-80
Spr. Catholic Jake Walz 39-44-83
Lamar Kip Roland 42-41-83
Strafford Tristan Crow 42-42-84
Stockton Joseph Davis 43-42-85
Strafford Braden Campbell 45-41-86
Lamar Nathan McArthur 43-43-86
Strafford Garrett Gorder 41-46-87
Eld. Springs Matt Rogers 43-45-88
Spr. Catholic John Gambon 41-48-89
Strafford Tristan Losh 47-42-89
Diamond Bruce Sprague 44-46-90
Sectional Qualifiers
School Name Score
Fair Grove Travis Bruemmer 46-45-91
Ash Grove Matt Keller 44-47-91
Clever John Cochran 43-49-92
Lamar Isaiah Cleveland 50-44-94
Stockton Bryson Erickson 47-52-99
Strafford Devon Edwards 49-50-99
Seneca Josh Pickering 46-53-99
Fair Grove Jayden Kensinger 51-52-103
Mt. Vernon Josh Tebow 50-54-104
Lamar Jeremy Marti 62-61-123
