EMPORIA — As they’ve done all season, Iola High’s golf team stayed out of trouble more than its challengers Monday to finish at the top of the leader board.
Junior Shane Walden recorded the top individual score, and the Mustangs shot 13 strokes better as a team than their nearest competitor.
It was anything but routine.
With a constant rush of wind in excess of 20 mph, and gusts nearing 50 mph, golfers from top to bottom struggled with the elements.
“These were the worst conditions we’ve had to deal with in my two years here,” Mustang golf coach Doug Kerr said.
The wind was intense enough to affect putts as they rolled across the green.
“Shane missed one putt because the wind actually moved the ball as he was drawing back to hit,” Kerr said. “It was basically a matter of who could handle the conditions better than the others.”
So while the Mustangs had a tough time on the course — Kaden Macha, for example, shot his worst round of the year by far — their main competitors were downright miserable.
Iola shot 336 as a team, 13 strokes better than Ottawa’s 349. Paola was a distant third at 358.
Walden was the only golfer on the day to shoot below 80. His 78 was three strokes better than Anderson County’s Spencer Walter.
Macha wound up in fifth with his 85.
“This is how strong the wind was,” Kerr said. “Kaden had never hit a ball out of bounds before today. Today, he hit three.”
But while no other team had more than three golfers score better than 90, Iola had four score 87 or better.
“We’ve played in windy conditions all season,” Kerr said, adding the team took a match play approach to the tournament. As long as each Iola golfer finished better than the others in his group, Kerr figured the Mustangs would be in good shape as a team.
“That’s how it wound up,” he said.
Drake Dieker finished one stroke behind Macha. His 86 placed him seventh. Weston Hines was eighth at 87.
