Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Lane Godfrey strokes his ball from a dusty lie. The Creek Valley senior finished his round with a back-nine 38 to put himself in medal contention.
Unlike the cloudy, cold and windy conditions that greeted competitors at last year's event, the 2014 Class D NSAA Boys Golf Championships were held under a bright sun that baked the near motionless air around Kearney Country Club to more than 90 degrees.
For the 97 high school golfers, including four from Creek Valley, who teed it up on Wednesday the scorching conditions seemed to be a welcome change.
As the only Creek Valley player to take part in last year's event, Lane Godfrey lowered his opening day score by 14 strokes from 2013 to put himself in the hunt for a top prize.
He came in at 79 this trip around.
Godfrey's score has put him in the thick of the hunt for a medal with an outside chance for a place in the winner's circle.
After day one, Godfrey sits in a tie for fifth, 8 strokes behind leader Jay Cottam of Thayer Central. Cottam's 71 gives him a three stroke lead over Trevor Kosch of Humphrey St. Francis in second. The others between Godfrey and the top spot are Preston Peters (76) of Bancroft-Rosalie and Michael Brockhaus (76) of Humphrey-St. Francis.
Caleb Moyer of Cambridge matched Godfrey's 79.
While Godfrey was the only Storm player to walk the fairways last season, he was joined this year by three other teammates who qualified for pursuit of a team title. Brett Godfrey finished his round with a 106, Cory Phillips scored a 118 and Joe Van Winkle shot 120.
"The freshmen (Brett Godfrey and Van Winkle) got their feet wet and now they have a better understanding of what state golf is all about," said Storm Coach Cyd Hanson. "This is a good experience that will hopefully pay off tomorrow."
The Kearney layout, used several times previously as the as a challenging sight for state cross country championships, is most difficult for its blind shots over large rolling hills present throughout the course. It is a par-71 with the front side set at 36.
While not especially long at just over 6,100 yards from the back tees, KCC shows its teeth in many other forms. With moderately narrow fairways, the penalty for a short-grass miss often requires a player to negotiate his way out from behind a tree or hack his way out of tall grass. There are also water hazards throughout the course.
Lane Godfrey came face-to-face with one of the course's defenses on the par-3 second hole. After a routine par on the first, Godfrey's tee shot on the second found the water fronting the green.
Although he quickly lost two strokes, the veteran steadied himself for the long haul. Godfrey lost just three more strokes to par on the front nine to finish at 41.
"Sometimes I'd get myself in a bad place with a bad lie and have to pay for it," said Godfrey. "But I was taking what I was given and just went with it."
Godfrey, like all his teammates except Van Winkle, had not played KKC before a practice round on Tuesday. Despite his lack of familiarity with the course, he had already expressed a likeness for the back nine. It showed on Wednesday. He came in with a 38 on the back after burning the lip on 18 with a 12-foot par putt.
"The greens were fast so if you were putting downhill you had to just tap it," said Godfrey. "But you could also get the balls to check and that was good because my approach shots were great today. I don't think I had a putt of more than 15 feet all day."
Lane's younger brother, Brett, was playing well most all day too but was stung on several occasions by a big number. After starting on the 10th tee, as did Phillips and Van Winkle, Godfrey was sailing along through the 17th hole. A triple bogey at the last would have broken 50 for his opening nine, but he found trouble.
Brett Godfrey's tee shot would up in the long grass along a steep hill adjacent to the left side of the 18th fairway. With a buried lie he made one attempt to hack out but only made it worse. After his first attempt, he chose to take an unplayable lie penalty.
"Maybe I should have done that in the first place, but I thought I might be able to get it out," said Godfrey.
His spot of trouble on 18 led him to an opening nine 53, which he matched on his second nine. On 18 he carded an 11.
"It's pretty easy sometimes and everything would be just fine," Brett Godfrey observed. "Then I would end up in a bad place and it would just kill me."
Phillips and Van Winkle both liked the course, too, but recognized soon enough that bad shots could be very painful. While Van Winkle had been around the course on a few occasions as a small child, he was, for all practical purposes, a couse novice as well.
"That was before I even knew what golf was," Van Winkle said.
Like Brett Godfrey, Phillips and Van Winkle played well in spots before a single bad shot would derail their efforts.
"I would be doing fine for a while and then all of a sudden it would all go wrong," said Phillips. "Tomorrow I'm going to try and not make the same mistakes I made today. Hopefully the third time around will make a difference."
As for Van Winkle, he quickly had a plan for day two after his opening round was complete. After being hurt throughout by a balky driver and clumsy chipping, he vowed to make a trip to the driving range and practice putting green to work it out.
After Wednesday's Round
Jay Cottam, Thayer Central 71
Trevor Kosch, Humphrey SF 74
Preston Peters, Bancroft-Rosalie 76
Michael Brockhaus, Humphrey SF 76
Lane Godfrey, Creek Valley 79
Other Creek Valley scores
Brett Godfrey 106
Cory Phillips 118
Joe Van Winkle 120
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