Godfrey storms to third at Bridgeport

All that kept Lane Godfrey from a win at Thursday's Bridgeport Invitational was pernicious thing known as consistency.

The Creek Valley senior fired a 40 on the front side and a 40 on the back. His round of 80 was good enough for third place on the course shadowed by Courthouse and Jail Rocks.

Meanwhile Godfrey's playing partners, Henry Heeg of Kimball and Czech exchange student Roman Konvicka, wearing Bayard colors, matched him over the first nine. After the turn, however, Heeg shaved off four strokes to top the leaderboard while Konvicka ended up with a 79.

Not that the Storm's number one was troubled by the outcome.

"I'm satisfied with this," he said, "as long as it's not in the 100s."

At Creek Valley's last outing, Godfrey-a state qualifier used to low 80s rounds and scheduled to golf for Hastings College-slumped badly, winding up in the triple digits. Consistency and a third place finish meant a return to familiar territory.

Hitting within a fraction of 80 on a regular basis would also put him in contention to win districts.

"I knew what I did wrong," Godfrey said of his previous round. He worked out the kink all week in practice. "It came together today."

Storm senior Cory Phillips also broke 100, thanks to an impressive back nine in which he managed to pare four strokes from the morning round. He was helped by a neat chip in on 11 and a deft touch on the greens.

Phillips putted only 25 times over 18 holes.

"Mostly they were just close putts," he explained. "I just got some better shots the second time around."

Bridgeport's nine-hole layout required groups to lap the course twice. This slowed play at choke points-particularly when one unlucky golfer recorded a 16 on hole number 5, causing a logjam in his wake.

Competitors also had to battle morning cold and unpredictable gusts.

Wind stymied Brett Godfrey twice on number 8, upsetting a round that might have jousted with double digits on a calm day.

"My tee shots-I had to aim well to the left," the younger Godfrey said. "But I'm pretty happy with it."

Brett Godfrey recorded pars on 7 and 9. His score of 105, backing up a 104 at the last event, keeps him on course to break 95 before districts.

Joe Van Winkle was on the verge of breaking 100, as well, but for a tough morning. He struggled on number 5 and suffered through inconsistencies, before rebounding with a 48 on the back-a full 9 strokes to the advantage.

"Way better than last time," he said.

That Alex Dexter also approached the 100 mark was remarkable, considering his travails. He knocked five balls out of bounds on the day. On one hole he struck the tee shot off course and hit a second-only to find his original ball sitting in the fairway.

He speculated that it careened off a tree back into play.

"I need to work on driving, that's for sure," Dexter observed. "I could've done better."

Creek Valley is back in action April 22 at Perkins County

Bridgeport Invitational

Team Totals

Bayard 344

Mitchell 352

Bridgeport 355

Kimball 370

Mullen 376

Creek Valley 386

Hyannis 436

Hemingford 439

Bridgeport JV 459

Gordon-Rushville 483

Garden County 502

Hay Springs NTS

Crawford NTS

Morrill NTS

Top Ten

Henry Heeg, Kimball 76

Roman Konvicka, Bayard 79

Lane Godfrey, Creek Valley 80

Trae Blanco, Bayard 82

Peyton Briggs, Mitchell 83

Jordan Greenwood, Kimball 85

Dakota Swires, Bridgeport 86

Tristan Robles, Mitchell 87

Luis Panduro, Mitchell 87

Joe Hernandez, Bayard 88

Creek Valley

Lane Godfrey 80

Cory Phillips 98

Alex Dexter 104

Brett Godfrey 105

Joe Van Winkle 105