By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
OZARK — It wasn’t quite a worst-to-first scenario for Kickapoo’s Nick Thompson on Thursday. But he did make quite a leap up the leaderboard.
Thompson captured low medalist honors at the Ozark Tournament by posting a one-over par 72 at Fremont Hills Country Club. A year ago, he shot a 94 at Fremont and was 52nd in Class 5 District 3 play.
He was looking forward to a return trip to Fremont and the chance to redeem himself.
“I wanted to play it again and show what I can actually do,” Thompson said. “This gives me more confidence.”
Thompson handled the greens better than most to make up for a rocky round on the tee box.
“My driver wasn’t working. I thought I was going to shoot high at first. It was stressful,” Thompson said. “But I came back with some birdies. My putter was hot. It helped me out a lot.
This can be a tough course,” he added. “The greens are really fast. But I like it.”
Thompson led Kickapoo to a team score of 307. Carl Junction captured the team title by also shooting a 307 and winning the first tie-breaker.
The Bulldogs received a 76 from Cohen Elick and 77s from Jack Spencer, Brock Spencer, Austin Baker and Logan Lowry.
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This was the second team title for Carl Junction this season. Last year, the Bulldogs won the Class 4 District 3 team championship and were third at the Class 4 State Tournament.
“We’ve got a chance this year, we’ll try our hardest,” Elick said of the Bulldogs’ state title chances. “We always push each other as hard as we can to get better.”
In addition to Thompson and his 72, Kickapoo’s 307 included a 74 from Brady Powers, a 79 from Owen Jump, an 82 from Caleb Kim and a 91 from Lincoln Swann.
Earlier this week, Jump carded a five-under par 67 at Rivercut Golf Course to win the SPS Invitational. The 67 tied his career-low round.
“I got hot at a good time. I made a lot of putts and didn’t miss many shots,” Jump said. “I didn’t miss many fairways and didn’t miss many greens. If I did miss a green, I got up and down most of the time. That’s something I battled today, I missed greens. That’s something I need to work on.”
Most encouraging for Jump is Rivercut will be the site for the Class 5 State Tournament next month.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Jump said. “Hopefully, we put together a good round for districts, go low and make (state) as a team. I’ll feel pretty confident going back there, after that round, with my swing and my putter.”
Kickapoo’s junior-varsity placed eighth with a 334 in the Ozark Tournament’s 24-team field. Ethan Bartels and Drew Angus both shot a 77 for the Chiefs’ jayvee.
“We’re pretty deep on our roster,” Jump said. “Our 10 man can do good things for us.”
“Our team goes all the way down to the 10th man,” Thompson said. “We play good all the way down. It’s always a push trying to stay on varsity.”
Tying for individual second-place honors with a 74 were Powers, Ozark’s Riley Franklin and West Plains’ AJ Stevenson.
