WOOD RIVER - Freshman Carter Crow shot a nine-over-par 81 to tie for eighth place as the Edwardsville boys golf team came in third place in the large school division of the Madison County tournament, played Thursday afternoon at the Belk Park Golf Course in Wood River.
The Tigers shot a team score of 340 to take third, as Highland shot a 299 to win the team championship, with Granite City coming in second with a 331, followed by Edwardsville, with Triad placing fourth at 341, Collinsville coming in fifth at 370, and Alton placing sixth with a 391.
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Highland's win ended an eight-year winning streak for the Tigers, and it's a sign of a very young team that's finding its way around. And if you ask coach Adam Tyler about how the Tigers did, he'd tell you is depended on each player's round.
For example, defending champion Hayden Moore, one of the two seniors on the team, shot an 83 on the day.
"It depends on the guy right now," Tyler said in a post-tournament interview. "I think Hayden Moore, he's not happy with his round. He expects to play really well, and he wants to win, instead of just playing. Just putting the ball in play and scoring. But Carter Crow played fantastic today. He shot an 81; he's done that in practice where he's been in the upper 70s, and I think today, it kind of showed where he should be at for most of the rest of the year. If he's not shooting down there, he shouldn't be happy. I think he should be happy today with the way he played, and I expect him to be around there for most of the year."
Many of the other young players played well on the day.
"Kolton Wright, he played well," Tyler said. "He just hasn't put 18 holes together, same thing with Bennett Babington. They're young, so them putting 18 holes together has been tough. They can put 14 or 15 holes together, but it's that one or two (triple bogeys) that really kind of kill a round. And Kolton Wright had the exact same thing today. He shot 48 on the front, shot 41 on the back. So in that 48, you're looking at two or three holes that ruined that round. But he should be a kid in the low 80s as well. He's got a good enough game to be in the low 80s, it's just putting it all together."
It's the second tournament of the year for Edwardsville, and so far, Tyler's young team is still learning their way around, and the work will pay off for the Tigers in the long run.
"We're young, and we're rebuilding," Tyler said. "We're getting kids experience. It's fun to see them, it's fun to coach them, it's fun to see kids go through the struggles of freshmen golfing in varsity tournaments; it's fun. However, it is a learning process, and it is something that we are going to be building on all year. And that's just kind of the nature of the beast this year."
As it's been discussed before, just being able to get out, play, and compete in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a great thing for Edwardsville and all of the teams in the area so far this season.
"Yeah, I mean, there's no complaining from me about anything right now," Tyler said. "Obviously, not all of these tournaments are ideal, but they're not ideal for anybody. And I don't think you'll find one person here saying that this is a perfect situation by any means. However, then the alternative is not playing. It's a perfect situation. So we will take it," Tyler said with a laugh.
Evan Sutton's three-under-par 69 gave him the individual championship as five Highland players came in the top ten. Jaxton Black was the runner-up with a 75, while Jake Brauns tied for third with Granite City's Brady Charbonnier with a 77, Bryce Knackstadt tied for fifth with Triad's Garrett Wood, each shooting a 78, and Dominick Emig was 10th with an 84. Bode Vanderbunt of the Knights was seventh with an 80, and Crow tied with Granite's Simon Maxfield for eighth with identical 81s on the day.
The Tigers next action comes on Monday with a dual match against Belleville Althoff Catholic, then play at a tournament hosted by Breese Mater Dei Catholic on Tuesday. The plan is to have some more of the seniors out on the course to play, and will also use the Monday meet at Stonewolf Golf Club in Fairview Heights, which will be the site for this year's Southwestern Conference tournament. Tyler is looking ahead to the opportunities for his team.
"We're going to get some seniors that haven't played much an opportunity to play next Tuesday," Tyler said. "Monday, we're playing at Stonewolf, since that's the conference course, I'm going to try to take the kids that I expect to be in the conference."
The hope is that the entire season will be played, and Tyler is very hopeful about being able to finish the season.
"Hopefully, we'll get a full season in," Tyler said. "It seems like every day feels like a week, and every week feels like a month right now. I think that every time something comes out, everybody holds their breath, hoping that the season is going forward. We'll keep playing, and every time we play, we'll be happy we're playing."
Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
