High school golf: Winged Lion in good spot for a 3-peat

PLEASANT VIEW — On a day that had weather conditions similar to the recent U.S. Open at Bethpage Black that required suspension of play due to heavy downpours of rain — the first round of the 2A state golf tournament took place at The Barn in North Ogden.

The back-to-back defending state champions from Rowland Hall showed they haven't lost a step — as they once again found themselves atop the totem pole after the first day after Quentin Morse, Carson Huiskamp, Ben Harries, Joey Polychronis, Johnny Bebbington and Sam Nolan shot a combined score of 319. The Winged Lion lead by six strokes over South Summit.

Coming into the tournament, the Winged Lion had a bull's-eye directed squarely on their backs, as could be expected with such a lofty resume. However, after the first day success, the heat knob officially was twisted to boiling.

"We're two time defending state champs; we're going for three in a row," said Rowling Hall's head coach Shawn MacQueen, "That's a rare feat, I don't care what classification or what sport it is, of course we feel the pressure. We feel the pressure of our own expectations. One shot at a time, we have to play in the moment. Golf's very difficult to play if you can't stay in the moment."

The playing field consisted of 11 teams sporting a six man roster. After the individual scores were tallied, the two lowest scores are dropped and the remaining form the overall team outcome. However, only eight teams were able to advance. Along with the teams, the top 10 golfers would qualify to return to action on day two, and anyone within ten shots of the overall leader.

Taylor Haws, who leads the medalist battle after shooting 70 on Monday, is no stranger to the spotlight. He won the individual championship in 2A last year. Now as a senior, he's in good position to defend his title — with his true competition coming from Rowland Hall's Huiskamp who finds himself two strokes off the pace after shooting four over on the first four holes, but quickly turned his fortunes to promising when he found his short game.

"I struggled on the front nine, but on the back nine I made four straight birdies and finished with a 32," said Huiskamp, "I got my putter going and I played pretty well, (the weather) was worse in the morning, it definitely had an impact — but towards the evening, it kind of warmed up a bit and the sun came out."

Despite the early lead, Haws found himself suffering from frustration and disappointment after dealing with difficult weather conditions. He felt he was capable of a much stronger performance — which could spell doom for his competition.

"I struggled a little bit today. I didn't putt as well as I'd like to," said Haws, "I felt like I left a few shots out there, but I played OK. It should be lower tomorrow."

e-mail: tphibbs@desnews.com