Locals compete in Jackman tourney

BY COREY GESFORD

Correspondent

New year. Same story. Elk Lake’s Jason Mowry began the high school golf season much like last year, capturing the low score for his class and being the top local finisher at 55th Irving Jackman Memorial Golf Tournament.

The Elk Lake Junior shot a 75, three over the par 72, at the Scranton Municipal Golf Course to finish tied for fifth with Abington Heights’ Daniel Flickinger. Mowry then birdied the first playoff hole on hole number one to edge Flickinger to claim the low score for a junior.

“I was hitting most of my greens so I could two-putt for par,” said Mowry. “My driver was working very well that day.”

Elk Lake Coach Ryan Kipar said that that was the key for Mowry’s success on the day and something that he emphasized to Mowry and teammate, Nate Warriner.

“We preached about getting to the two putts,” said Kipar. “That was the key in the playoff.”

“My goal (on the playoff hole) was to make par, and force him to have to birdie to beat me,” Mowry said. With his own birdie, he knew his plan worked better than planned.

Montrose’s Riley Brown was the next highest finisher with a score of 89 to finish tied in 19th place with three other golfers. Warriner, the Elk Lake freshmen shot a 91 to finish tied for 21st in his Jackman debut, and Montrose’s Issac Walker came in 24th with a score of 94.

“Nate struggles with leaning back, and that hurt him on a few holes,” said Kipar. “But I was happy with his performance as a freshman. “

Warriner was happy with his performance although he felt he could have done better, but he valued the experience of his first official high school match.

“I wish I could’ve got to the greens a little quicker,” said Warriner. “But it was a great course to play on, and it was neat to playing to be playing with kids from other schools.”

Blue Ridge was the only local school that had the required number of golfers to qualify for the team scores and the Raiders combined to shoot a 443. Kevin Silfee led the way with a 101, Preston Perry followed with a 106, Kyle Spoor chipped in with a 110, while Jake Downton rounded out the team with a 126.

Blue Ridge Coach Steve Galloway noted that the Raiders were missing two of their top golfers for the tournament and that the wet conditions at the Muni impacted his golfers.

“If we had all our guys we might have been able to shave 40 points off our score,” said Galloway. “But having only two practices because of the weather, the guys hung in there and competed.”