The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer boys golf team claim third place

"Connor stepped in for Trevor Zierke who was home ill," coach Armstrong explains. "He competed nicely for not knowing he was even going along until one hour before departure. I am sure he would have wanted his varsity debut to be better, but he now has it out of the way and if ever called upon again, his nerves might be a little better."

Prior Lake won the tournament with a 326, while St. Peter was second with 336. After the Bucs, Bethlehem Academy was fourth with 358, NRHEG came in fifth at 365, Maple River was sixth with 398 and FAIR was seventh at 503.

"Andy made a 10 on his first hole and it spiraled down from there," Coach Travis Armstrong says. "The lesson to be ping g15 irons learned is that you can't let a bad hole ruin their whole day."

Logan Jacobs also had a 91 (43-48) for BEA, and Connor Thielfoldt came in with a 108 (58-50).

"At Jordan he was too aware of his score and realized he was playing well with three holes to play," Armstrong explains. "Those three holes he played five over par and he was dejected. Today I asked him his score with two holes to go and he did not even know."

That put all the Buc golfers under 100 for the first time this year.

The Buccaneer boys golf team was fortunate to play two rounds at the home of the upcoming State Golf Tournament in Jordan.

"We had tee times that kept us out of the majority of the rain over the two days," Coach Travis Armstrong says. "We did not play our best, but that is a tough course with lots of hazards Taylormade Burner 2.0 irons and longer holes than we are used to playing."

Derek Abel had a 90, Zach Curtis a 93 and Slater Peterson a 98, for a team total 359 and an eighth place position.

The second day, Saturday, Aukes again came in with a 78, finishing third overall.


"He had some hazard trouble and dunked a few balls in the pond to top it off," Armstrong says. "But, he did not let it get to him."

Armstrong says Curtis applied what he had learned at Jordan over the weekend to his game at St. James and it made all the difference.

"That was crucial for Derek," Armstrong says. "He learned that is possible to turn in a respectable score with one discount golf clubs really bad hole, if the other 17 are bogeys or better."

"All the guys just need to keep learning these lessons and apply them to future rounds," Armstrong says. "The mechanics of the golf swing are pretty far down on the list of things that will improve your score." BEA 7th at

Curtis struggled to finish with a 90 after playing great in the middle of the second round. Zierke shot a 98 to finish out the Bucs scoring with a 358 for day two.