Whitefish sweeps Libby golf tourney

The putts just weren’t falling.

Used to scoring in the low 80s, Libby High School senior Eric Anderson was disappointed to finish with a 90 – especially on the home course at Cabinet View Country Club.

“I really didn’t play that good; it could’ve been better,” said Anderson, who had the top score on the team but didn’t finish among the top 10 individuals at the Libby Invitational. “Usually I putt pretty good. My short game’s better than my driving. That’s where I make most of my points up but not today.”

In fairness to Anderson, the Libby course has a reputation for fast greens.

“Our golf course plays tougher than most places,” LHS golf coach Dann Rohrer said. “The golf course is in unreal shape; it’s just that the greens are what makes it tough. But everybody’s putting to the same hole. If you grow up playing golf in Libby, you’re a good putter, period. You have to be.”

Just because the course is tough, that’s not a bad thing.

“The speed of the greens is wonderful now,” Rohrer said. “Libby’s historically had had fairly slow greens. But we’ve got some new equipment that’s been able to speed it up. We roll them now and also cut them down. The greens crew has done a wonderful job.”

Anderson was coming off a second-place finish at Columbia Falls earlier in the week.

“I’ll just work my way through it,” Anderson said about his off day. “I’ll just play, just play it out.”

Glacier’s Trey Griffith took first place in the boys portion of the tournament with a 74. Whitefish’s Joel Mallams finished just one stroke back at 75.

In the team race, Whitefish won with a 315 and Glacier was second at 342. Polson ended up third at 344. Libby placed seventh.

Zach Watson shot a 94 for the Loggers and Eric Grotjohn came in with a 95. Louis Cielak had a 114 and Chris Campbell a 116.

The Libby girls competed without a couple of varsity golfers, including Jackie Mee who played in a volleyball match on Saturday.

Taylor Barton had the top Lady Logger round with a 107. Candace Hendrickson came in at 121, Ashley Barnett had a 124 and Chelsey Oedewaldt a 152.

“We’ve been playing pretty well,” Rohrer said. “We’re not unhappy with the way the kids are playing.

Kiley McConnell of Whitefish and Julia Digallanardo of Polson tied for first place with an 86.

The Whitefish girls took the team title with a 362 with Polson finishing second at 370. Ronan was third at 437. Libby ended up seventh.

The Loggers head to the Polson Invitational on Thursday, the Hamilton Invitational on Saturday and the Frenchtown Invitational on Monday.