Photos by Daryl Schepanksi/Journal Eureka

By Jeff Yoder

The Lone Tree boys opened the season with an 18-hole two-course tournament in Anamosa on Tuesday, April 6. 

Adam Knock led the Lions with a score of 54 on the front nine, which was played at the Wapsi Country Club, and a total of 57 strokes on the back nine – played at Fawn Creek Country Club. 

“We played two completely different styles of golf courses for this tournament,” Lone Tree coach Jeremy Claussen said. “I think most of the boys liked the openness of Fawn better as opposed to the narrow tree lined holes at Wapsi.”

Knock came back from his worst hole of the day at Wapsi with two pars in a row on holes three and four. 

“It was good to see that bounce back,” Claussen said. “That is something I tell them, if you have a bad hole, it has to be put behind and concentrate on what is in front of you.”

Tyce Alt shot scores of 56 and 62 for the Lions. Nick Floyd had rounds of 61 and 65, and Tyler Bell rounded out the scoring with a 66 and a 63. 

The Lions finished fifth with a score of 484. Maquoketa won the five-team event with a score of 326 led by medalist Noah Nabb, who had 38 strokes on each course. 

The Lone Tree golf team is an inexperienced group, so Claussen has put an emphasis on having fun, as well as understanding the rules of the game, respecting others on the course, and taking care of the playing surfaces as well. 

“Basically playing the game the right way,” Claussen said. “They are also expected to leave the golf course better than they found it by fixing ball marks on greens, replacing divots, raking bunkers, and generally showing good course care. I don’t care what they shoot as long as they are playing the game the right way and having fun. 

“Being that this was our first meet of the year it looked to me like everything went great from that perspective, and they played at a quicker pace than I expected as well.”

Sebastian Jacque shot a 65 at Wapsi and a 68 at Fawn Creek, while Hunter Hain had 76 strokes on the front nine and shot an 89 on the back. 

“Although we could have definitely shot lower, I was pleased overall with how everybody did for our first meet of the year,” Claussen said.

The Lone Tree girls finished fourth out of five teams in the season-opening tournament in Anamosa on Tuesday. 

The Lady Lions were led by Tessa Galloway, who shot a 54 on the front nine and 58 on the back. Kylie Patterson shot rounds of 58 and 66, while Allison Marshek bounced back from a 76 over the first nine holes to shoot a 64 on the back nine. Avery Grover also improved from a 71 over the first nine with a 62 to finish the day. With a team total of 509, Lone Tree finished well ahead of fifth-place Camanche with 534. West Liberty had the best team score with a total of 438, led by runner-up medalist Aly Hamed. Maddie Nemmers was the medalist for host Anamosa with scores of 45 and 47. 

Jacque led the Lone Tree boys in their first dual of the season against Winfield-Mt. Union on Thursday at Blue Top Ridge in Riverside. 

Jacque finished with 56 strokes for the Lions, who lost 182-241 to WMU. Jacque’s best hole was a bogey on the par-3 eighth. Knock finished with a score of 58. He also needed just four strokes for the par-3 eighth hole and the par-3 sixth as well. Joe Boxwell finished with 60 strokes. Bell rounded out the scoring with a 67. Floyd and Alt shot scores of 72 and 74, respectively. 

With just three golfers available on Thursday, the Lone Tree girls did not have a team score. The were led by Patterson, who finished with a 58. Patterson shot just one over par on the fifth and the eighth. Marshek finished with 73 strokes and Avery Grover shot an 84.