The Puget Sound men’s golf team had a great weekend of golf with a large group of supporters for their multiple invitationals.
On Thursday and Friday, March 7-8, the Loggers hosted the Logger Invitational tournament in Fircrest, where they played against St. Martin’s and Trinity Lutheran in two rounds.
This tournament was scored only with individual scores rather than a team score. Junior Matt Kitto (Lake Oswego, Ore.) scored 150 during the tournament, and improved during Friday’s portion to score 73. He led the Loggers throughout the tournament and tied for seventh place, while also having the low round score for the Loggers.
Junior Derek Wilson (Bellevue, Wash.) was 13-over during the tournament and sophomore Ricky Howard (Madison, Wisc.) was 18-over. Both Wilson and Howard were the next top finishers for the Loggers.
Right after finishing the Logger Invitational, the men’s team headed south down to Aloha, Ore. to play in the two-round Pacific Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, March 9-10.
The Loggers started off strong during day one of the tournament. Kitto once again took the lead for Loggers and overall in the individual standings, and was the only play to go under par on the first day. He shot one under par earning a score of 71 for the Loggers.
The team as a whole was fighting to lead the scoreboard in the team standings. With four schools including Corban, Warner Pacific, Linfield and Puget Sound, each raced to finish the day as the top team.
However, Corban and Warner Pacific ended with a team score of 308, while the Loggers were one stroke behind on the board with a score of 309 to end day one of the Pacific Invitational.
Howard and freshman Karsten Sladky (Madison, Wisc.) each shot 78 in the first round of the invite. Sophomore Peter Bell (Klamath Falls, Ore.) shot 10 over 82 for the Loggers on day one.
On the start of final day of the invitational, it was apparent that the Loggers would no longer be able to keep up with the other teams. The Loggers sadly finished 12 strokes behind third to place fourth overall in the tournament.
Kitto finished fifth overall in the tournament; he went 8-over-par to have a concluding score of 151. Howard shot 78 to finish 12-over, earning 13th overall, Wilson finished 19th, while Sladky finished 27th.
The Puget Sound men’s golf team will travel again to California for their next tournament, the West Cup, on March 25 and 26.