Jackets 5th* in home golf tournament
KHS SENIOR Tristun Burnham watches his chip shot on the par-3 sixth hole during Wednesday’s tournament at Kingfi sher Golf Course. Burnham finished with a 3-over-par 73. [KT&FP Staff Photo]
JACKET GOLFERS Jax Sternberger (left) punches a shot toward the green on the sixth hole while Blake Hill (below) watches his shot out of the sand. Hill ended his day with a 78 while Sternberger shot an 87. [KT&FP Staff Photos]
The Kingfisher boys golf team took fifth place Wednesday at the largeschool version of the Kingfi sher High School Invitational.
However, the Jackets also placed first...at least among Class 3A teams in the field.
KHS shot a 300 using the Maxwell format at Kingfisher Golf Course.
Traditional scoring sees a team take the four best scores to achieve the team total.
The Maxwell format uses the four best scores by a team on each hole to garner a score for that hole. Those totals lead to the team’s final score.
Oklahoma Christian School won the team title with a 274, solidly in front of runner-up Heritage Hall’s 291.
Elk City was third with a 297 and Bethany’s 298 as fourth.
All four of those schools are in Class 4A while KHS has dropped down to 3A this year.
The next Class 3A school in the field - Marlow - shows up in 11th place with a 323.
The Outlaws were followed by Comanche (328), Christian Heritage Academy (336) and Mount St. Mary (337), all of which are in 3A this year.
Ryder Cowan of OCS shot a 5-under-par 65 to win the individual title for a third straight year.
Cowan has signed to golf for the University of Oklahoma.
He shot 64s in winning each of the previous two seasons.
“It was a great day and great competition,” said KHS head coach Chris Combs.
“We always see some of the better players in the state at this tournament.”
Chickasha’s Brock Jerman and the Saints’ Bryant Polhill both shot 67s, but Jerman took second on the card.
The Jackets were led by Tristun Burnham’s 73, which tied him for seventh individually. Blake Hill shot a 78, Cash Slezickey and Myles Harrison had 80s and Jax Sternberger an 87.
“I thought if we played well, we could finish in the top-three and we were just three shots from that goal,” Combs said. “We are still a bit inconsistent in some areas, but see glimpses of all of us playing winning golf at the right time.”
There were 23 full teams in this year’s field.
Combs commended the work done by course manager Gary Wilson and the city’s parks department crew.
Kingfisher - including the greens at the course was pelted with a hail storm on Monday night.
The course showed no ill effects as the crews worked to get the course ready on Tuesday.
“I had many golfers say those were the best greens they’ve played on all spring,” Combs said.