Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Jordan Greenwood, who qualified for the state golf tournament this past week by finishing in 5th place, practices his putting technique before the district tournament.
Kimball will have two Class C state qualifiers for the upcoming Nebraska Boys' State Golf Tournament in senior Henry Heeg and freshman Jordan Greenwood after both finished in the top ten medal group of the C-5 District Tournament held at the Kimball Four Winds Golf Course on Monday.
Heeg will be making his fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament after blistering the Four Winds Course with a best ever competitive round of 36-33=69 to win the individual championship by 7 strokes over the runnerup finish of Coleman of Valentine who shot 76. Greenwood now has the opportunity to also become a four year state qualifier after finishing 5th over all with his round of 36-43=79, winning a score card playoff over Swires of Bridgeport for the 5th place medal by virtue of his amazing birdie-3 on hole number one. After a long drive that left him 100 yards out, Greenwood stuck his second shot about 3 feet from the pin and dropped the birdie putt to get the day started in fine fashion.
Heeg was on top of his game from start to finish with long and accurate tee shots, outstanding iron play on his approaches, getting his chip shots in position for his deadly putting skills and he finished out his round with a birdie on #18. On the front nine he had but 1 birdie but finished 1 over par with his score of 36. He started out the back nine with a birdie followed by an eagle on #11 and notched two more birds on the back as he went 4 under par on the back nine to shoot the best score he has ever recorded while bringing the course, and the field of opponents, to its knees. This was the sixth win of the season for the talented senior who has a college career awaiting him at the College of the Canyons in California after his final state tournament appearance coming up May 28-29 at the Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln.
Kimball failed to qualify their team as they finished 6th in the field of 14 schools with the top three teams, and the top ten individuals qualifying to advance to the state tournament. Michael Ferguson shot a solid 95, Spencer Shields a round of 118, and Kyle Spicer 130 for a team score of 361. Bayard won the team title with 346, Mitchell shot 350, and southern Valley 353. Behind the top three were Valentine 354, Kearney Catholic 354, Kimball 361, Bridgeport 368, Ainsworth 385, Chase County 392 SMC 399, Dundy County-Stratton 401, Perkins County 403, Hershey 469, and Gordon-Rushville 482.
The top ten individuals were Heeg at 69, Coleman-Valentine 76, Konvicka-Bayard 77, McVay-Mitchell 78, Greenwood-Kimball 79, Swires-Bridgeport 79, Quinn-Southern Valley 80, Sommers-Kearney, Catholic 81, Johnson-SMC 83, and Briggs-Mitchell 83.
Golfers at the Class C State Tournament in Lincoln will be assigned tee times by virtue of their district scores.
One thing in favor for the two Kimball golfers is the experience coach Chad Wise can bring to the table as this was his home course when he played his high school golf while growing up in Lincoln. The plan is for Heeg and Greenwood to get to Lincoln for a practice round prior to the state tournament action.
