September 10-12, 2006

The venue for the first tournament of the season was Fairmont Golf Course. A medium length golf course set amongst the hills of western Montana. The layout was straight forward, holes lying parallel to one another with sparsely populated shrubbery dotted throughout the course. It was easy on the eyes but the greens were the downfall to all the teams, receptive with severe slopes and grain. The uphill puts were especially slow while the downhill puts were extremely quick. Making the putting surfaces hard to beat. One team member quoted, “The ball always seems to come back to your feet.” In essence the LCSC team had not anticipated greens of this manner. What was the team to do? With the arrival of three new freshmen; Joey Lovell, Scott, Mooney, Chris Jarrett, sophomore Patrick Casabonne, Nicholas Arrenbrecht; seniors Ross Buttons, and former LCSC pitcher Jon Mc Caslin.  The men’s golf team seemed to be in good hands.  Round one and our closes rivals Montana Tech gave us a run for our money-remembering that they had practiced the course three weeks prior to the meet. Round two and three the men’s team applied some pressure, it was not enough to win but we closed the gap in the stroke difference and came in a satisfactory second. A good start to the season, considering that the men’s team is a fresh, overhauled bunch of new guys with only two returning players from last year. 

The season ahead will be competitive, tough, and exciting with rivalries having been cemented in the first meet, it shall be a great year ahead for both the guys and the girls. 

Yeha 

Nikolas
 

Our first tournament was hosted by the Montana Tech Orediggers of Butte. We played at Fairmont Golf Course just outside of Butte. Usually we play at the Butte Country Club but the venue was changed because a new coach was hired for the Orediggers, the Pro at Fairmont. The landscape was picturesque with hillsides lining the course to the east and south. The weather for our competitive rounds was great. We were actually able to wear shorts for the duration of the days. The wind picked up for a bit on the first day but died down quick enough to only affect a few holes. The course was much different then the tighter Butte C.C.  The holes were wide open but tactics were needed when trying to decipher the greens. Not only were approach shots key but putts sometimes were hit hoping just to stay on the greens. There were severe slopes that really made for difficulty in putting for all teams. Eight girls in all traveled to the tournament, five playing for a team score with three playing as individuals. Our team consists of three freshman, one sophomore, three juniors, and a lone senior. We have such a deep team and it seems difficult for our coaches to choose positions. For our first tournament we had all returnees playing in the top five due to qualifying and experience but really all the girls could potentially play in the top five. As a team we had a lot to prove on the first tournament seeing as we are the reigning conference champs. After the first round we were neck and neck with Rocky Mountain College. Surprisingly after the second round we were still tied with Rocky for the lead. We knew as a team we needed to improve so we all got a greats night sleep and headed out the next morning to hopefully win the tournament. As the day proceeded nobody really knew where either side stood and it was a struggle till the bitter end. Biting our nails we found out that we had beaten Rocky by one stroke which was a great relief. We are going to have to show up to Helena next week prepared to have another great battle against Rocky but hopefully it won’t be as close as last weekend. 

Ya’ll will hear from me soon, 

Samara Kluever