The hype surrounding Humboldt High School freshman Connor Newman is justified. Newman placed first in his debut at the Caney Valley Invitational Monday.
Newman started turning heads just a few strokes into his high school career after shooting a 41 on the front nine while en route to taking the tournament title.
“I was thrilled that Newman won the season opener. He started the day with a tap-in birdie on hole 1,” Humboldt coach Bret Houser said. “His third shot (for eagle) was a 7-yard chip that ended up about 2 inches from the hole. He settled for an easy birdie.”
Connor Newman poses with his first-place medal at the Caney Invitational Monday.
Although a statement-making performance, Newman was far from the only Cub making a name Monday. Junior Lane Ellison finished in the top 25 after opening the tournament with shooting a 50, then added a few strokes on the trip back and carding a 104 — a career low.
“His first couple of holes started a bit rough, but he was able to turn it around,” said Houser, who added Ellison led the Cubs in birdies. “On hole 4, he was able to get a birdie, stringing together a good drive, chip, and putt. He followed that up on hole 5, a 143-yard hole over water. His opening shot was about 10 yards deep right of the green but he was able to chip in for his second birdie in a row.”
Sophomore Thatcher Mueller, senior Kurt Shannon and freshman Bryer Grisier finished 34th, 35th and 37th respectively — giving Humboldt a team score of 443 for fifth place. Although in the middle of the pack, each player made progress as the tournament wore on.
“Mueller had a rough day on the course, but was able to shave 10 strokes off his front 9 score on the back 9. Once he got settled in, he was able to eliminate some frustrating shots to improve his score,” Houser said.
“Shannon had a rough front 9 but was able to settle down on his back 9 and shave off a few strokes. Caney has never been kind to Curt and I’m looking forward to him getting to Burlington where he has scored better each year.”
Houser said he is confident Grisier, also a freshman, can compete with the Cubs’ upperclassmen once he becomes completely acclimated.
“Grisier played in his first golf tournament ever and gained valuable experience. He was able to improve greatly from the front 9 to the back 9. As he gets more experience playing high school golf, I fully expect to see his scores to start to drop and put him competing against Mueller and Ellison.”
“Caney is a hard course to open the year on, with their infamous turtleback greens which are notoriously more difficult to work with, especially when it is not our everyday course,” Houser said. “We will be going back to Caney in May for the Tri-Valley League Championship and I look for all the boys to improve on their scores from Monday.”
