Nebraska junior amateur golf officials praise Kimball course

The 47th Nebraska Junior Amateur Golf Championship along with the 15th Nebraska Girls Amateur Championship was held at the Kimball Four Winds Golf Course this past week and when all was said and done, it was termed a success by all involved.

The three day format brought a total of 82 golfers to town, including 18 girls and 64 boys, plus their family members, several state officials who ran the show, and friends and fans of the game. Officials of the Nebraska Golf Association set their own pin placements, put up their own signage, and established the rules and regulations that governed the tournament play. On the local level, Four Winds Pro Chad Wise handled lots of behind the scene duties including assigning the carts and taking care of any needs through the Pro Shop. Wilma Gilliland took care of organizing all of the local volunteers, and there were many, and Jeremy Williams and his staff had the course in top condition and ready to play each day. The state officials had nothing but praise for the way Kimball supported the tournament and the contestants and their families praised the course also.

The girls competition was a two day affair ending Wednesday with Hannah Thiele of Wahoo edging out her older sister Haley to take top honors shooting 73-73=146 while Haley finished at 70-78=148 to accept runner up honors. Kimball had one lone entry with Mercedes Bartels playing consistent golf with rounds of 98-98=196 to finish 16th. The champion will be a junior at Wahoo where they played on the boys team this past fall. Haley is headed to Lincoln on a golf scholarship at the University of Nebraska. The win by Hannah gave her back to back titles as she defended the title she won a year ago.

The same thing rang true for Omaha's Alex Schaake who defended his title as well becoming the fifth player to claim multiple titles and is just the fourth to win back-to-back titles. Koy Potthoff of Scottsbluff and Nolan Maschka of Omaha tied for runnerup honors two strokes back with a three day total of 221. Schaaka had rounds of 76-69-74=219. Potthoff shot 72-72-77=221 and Maschka 71-74-76=221.

Kimball's Jordan Greenwood was right in the mix shooting in the 70s all three days but finished one place out of the top ten medal group with his 11th place finish. The talented young golfer who will be a junior this fall at Kimball High had rounds of 74-76-79=229 and although disappointed with his finish, can hold his head high for a good showing against the best the state has to offer.

Kimball had 7 young men compete and all are quite young with the top age at 18 to be eligible. Next in line behind Greenwood was Dillon Wise who will be a 9th grader this fall. Dillon shows great promise as he shot 87-84-84=255 to finish 44th. Zane Anthony, another 9th grader to be this fall, tied for 51st with rounds of 87-81-97=265. Izaak Reuter, also of the same class was 58th with his rounds of 93-84-104=278. Brendan Walker who will be an 8th grader this fall, was 59th with rounds of 97-89-93=279. Tristen Zitek was 60th shooting rounds of 94-92-94=280, and Andrew McCloud was 64th with rounds of 113-103-93=309.

It was a great experience for all of the contestants and many of our eastern contestants said they would gladly come back to have the chance to play the Four Winds Course again.

At the awards presentations at both the girls and boys ceremonies following their respective play, state officials asked Wilma Gilliland and Chad Wise to take part and to speak to the group. Wilma presented medals to the winners. It was rewarding for Kimball and the Four Winds Golf Course to have our friends from the far east journey west, but again, there was only praise for the golf course and the Kimball people who turned out in force to help host it. Next big action for the Four Winds is the Kimball Hospital Foundation Tournament coming up August 15.