Players relish chance to play Dalhousie

For the third straight year, local high school golfers had the chance to end their regular season at one of the top courses in the state.

Dalhousie Golf Club, named last month as the No. 2 golf course in Missouri, hosted the SEMO Conference tournament for the third straight year.

"I think, from listening to the coaches and players, it gives them something to look forward to," Dalhousie director of golf Jack Connell said.

For Notre Dame senior Will Lindman, it was a chance to take one more crack at No. 7.

"It's a zig-zag hole and it's always been my arch nemesis," Lindman said of the par 5. "It got me today but it's still a lot of fun to try to beat it."

Lindman scored a double-bogey on that hole and ended the day at 8-over 80 to earn a tie for ninth place in the tournament.

"The course played awesome," Lindman said. "It felt easy to score on."

Easy to score on but also dangerous, noted Central junior Kirk Lohmann.

"Because it's such a fair course, if you hit good shots, you'll end up good," Lohmann said. "But if you hit bad shots, you'll end up much worse."

Lohmann said he had too many bad shots with his irons in a round of 81, which is 13 strokes off his personal best on the course.

"I just couldn't hit my irons," Lohmann said. "I was putting well but I just didn't give myself a chance to make a good score."

For Central junior Blake Driskell, a few poor tee shots into unforgiving rough contributed to his round of 79.

"With all the tall grass, you just can't hit a wayward tee shot," Driskell said. "You've got to be highly accurate. I hit into the rough four times and it led to two double bogeys. On one of those, I had to hit a good shot just to save a bogey.

"It was killer."