Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Ryan Birner follows the path of his drive on the par 3 10th hole.
With fifth-place on the leaderboard, the young Sidney boys golf team opened their season to mixed results at the cool and windy River's Edge Golf Club in North Platte on Friday.
The Raiders finished with a total of 363 strokes, off the pace set by McCook at 329. Behind the Bison were Gering (343), Grand Island (349) and host North Platte (356). In all there were 11 varsity teams competing.
Among the top-10 individual finishers, Ryan Birner secured a fifth-place medal with a 13-over par 83. Another positvie sign for Sidney was the 89 carded by another sophomore, Brady Radcliffe, matching his best score of last season.
The individual medalist was Mack Alspaugh (78) of McCook whose team swept the top three placings. Alspaugh was followed by teammates Noah Hoffman (80) and James Mitnick (82).
Despite the tough beginning to his season, the Raiders lone senior and No. 1 player Brandon Brown recovered from a front-nine 50 to score 44 on the back. That despite playing conditions deteriorating as the day progressed.
The Raiders other scores included a 97 from Garret Wamsley and a 98 by freshman Nate Dvorak. The top four scores count towards the team total.
"I actually struggled more in the beginning when the conditions were calm," said Birner. "I seemed to do better even when the wind picked up because I was hitting my driver better than usual."
Birner, though not a particularly long hitter, hits a low ball, which helped his cause. But his putting, he remarked later, is what stood between him and a really good round.
Birner ended his day with a par at the 196-yard 10th hole. Though into the wind, he placed his tee shot on the front portion of the green and two putted from about 20 feet.
His playing partners also parred the final hole. While Birner competed his par-3 the more conventional way, one of his parters chipped in while the other sank a long putt.
Radcliffe, more naturally, fared better with the calm winds at the start of his round. With the shotgun start at 11 a.m. the winds were fairly calm at 9 mph. By noon winds had actually dropped to 7 mph, but it was a short lived reprieve.
Not long after noon clouds and rolled in and the wind picked up to more than 20 mph. and kept howling the rest of the day.
"I started out well when the wind was down," said Radcliffe. "When the wind picked up I was hitting the ball every which way. I did a nice job of getting out of trouble though. I think I hit the ball straight only once on just about every hole."
Wamsley's biggest troubles came when he started and finished holes. He reported having difficulty with his driving and putting througout most of his round.
"It's frustrating because I was hitting my drives awsome on the range," said Wamsley. "But after about the middle of my round I put my driver away and didn't hit it again the rest of the day."
Despite being bitten by a couple of 9s, Wamsley will take his solid iron play and well played par 5s as a positive sign going forward.
"The wind wasn't favorable on any hole," Wamsley said. "But I'm not making excuses. I played terrible. I'm just going to have to work at it."
Though it was Dvorak's 98 that ended up being the score not used, Coach Chuck Christensen had enough confidence in the freshman to have him second in the order behind Brown.
Sidney will have the advantage of some home cooking for their next tournament. The Sidney Invite starts Tuesday, April 8 at 9 a.m. at Hillside Golf Course.
North Platte Invite
@ Rivers Edge Golf Club -
Team Scores
1. McCook 329
2. Gering 343
3. Grand Island 349
4. North Platte 356
5. Sidney 363
6. Broken Bow 369
7. Cozad 370
8. Hastings 375
9. Ogallala 390
10. Gothenburg 394
11. Lexington 398
Top 10 Individual
1. Mack Alspaugh, McCook 78
2. Noah Hoffman, McCook 80
3. James Mitnick, McCook 82
4. Baily Hort, Gering 82
5. Ryan Birner, Sidney 83
6. Austin Kaufman, Gering 84
7. Reece Rhodes, GI 84
8. Tyson Block, Lexington 84
9. Jake Parker, Hastings 85
10. Kaden Shada, GI 85
Sidney Scores
Ryan Birner 83
Brady Radcliffe 89
Bradnon Brown 94
Garrett Wamsley 97
Nate Dvorak 98
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