(Auburn) — The Auburn boys golf team opened their season with a win on Tuesday, surprising their Coach Shawn Wehenkel with some of their scores.
“For the first time out, I was proud of how they reacted to the weather and not being on the course very much,” Coach Wehenkel told KMA Sports. “I have four first-time golfers on the varsity level, and I wasn’t sure how they would do for their first time.”
While Coach Wehenkel notes that his team was extremely nervous, they did outshoot his expectations.
“I was hoping to be right around the 200 mark,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect to be honest with you. I knew I had some kids that liked to golf but hadn’t played competitive golf, which is a totally different mindset. If we go around the 200 mark, I thought we’d be good, but we obviously beat that.”
The Bulldogs shot a 192 as a group, led by freshman Kaleb Dammast’s 42, which was good for medalist honors. As a team, it was 10 strokes better than Falls City while Humboldt-TRS could not post a team score.
Along with Dammast, first-time varsity golfer Maverick Binder was the runner-up with a 46. Other first-time varsity golfers Owen Hall and Brant Galizia had a 48 and a 56, respectively, and the lone varsity returnee, Hudson Emshoff, posted a 56.
“We’ve been out on the course about six times since the start of practice and those have been for qualifying rounds to see who would play varsity,” Coach Wehenkel said. “The rest of the time we’ve spent inside on the golf simulator at our golf course, just working on our swing and stuff like that. As the season goes, hopefully we can get some more chipping and putting where it really counts.”
Auburn will be back in action on Monday, hosting their home tournament for the first 18-hole challenge of the year. Check out the full interview with Coach Wehenkel below.
