Four Winds course proves aptly named

Wind whipped through the MAC tournament on Thursday. It forced drives to veer sharply into the trees. It stalled approach shots lofted toward the green. And it caused golfers to doubt each and every decision.

There was, however, one consolation.

"It was good to your back," Creek Valley's Wyatt McMillan reported.

The Storm finished the day in second place behind a solid Bayard lineup. Lane Godfrey led the squad with an 83, taking third on the leaderboard by winning the tiebreaker over the Tigers' Trae Blanco. Alex Dexter, on the JV roster for this event, and Wyatt McMillan also carded top tens for Creek Valley.

Potter-Dix's lone golfer, Austin Lewis, ended up with a 169 on the trying day.

Scores in the low 80s were an achievement, as was the winning 77 round put in by Roman Konvicka, a Czech exchange student for Bayard.

Konvicka was solid all day in the Tigers' number two slot. Hearing of his scores, Creek Valley's Godfrey--a two time conference winner--said while walking the 12th fairway "I feel my three-peat slipping away."

Godfrey fired a 39 on the front side, with birdies on 5 and 6, well as several one-putts, before slipping five strokes after the turn.

"I'm happy with my score," he said. "It would be better if my approach shots were better. Putting saved me today."

Dexter carded a 98 despite finding the water three times.

"That's what I was going for," he explained. "I needed to stay out of the 100s."

McMillan was on his way to a top five finish, stroking a 42 on the front nine. But with the win against him, things began to unravel. On 17, he took an 11 after smacking trees on consecutive shots.

"Seventeen killed me," he observed. "I was facing forward and the wind caught it."

When the steady gale bedeviling Kimball's Four Winds Golf Course gusted from behind, shots sailed yards further than normal. But the fierce crosswinds on 13 and other holes caused a number of balls to curl out of bounds.

Cory Phillips fought back from a double-digit score on 16. He shrugged and called the 106 round "pretty decent" under the circumstances.

Joe Van Winkle suffered a 13 on 13 after launching two windswept drives out of bounds.

"The rest of it was good," he said of the day. "The wind just irritated me, got me thinking about it."

Brett Godfrey lost four strokes on the difficult back nine, winding up at 104.

"I should have had low 90s," he explained, comparing his round to a calm day. "You just had to play it low."

The Storm are back in action on Monday, when they host the Creek Valley Invitational.

MAC Tournament, Kimball

Team Totals

Bayard 331

Creek Valley 392

South Platte 477

Garden County 440

Potter-Dix NTS

Top Ten

Roman Konvicka, Bayard 77

Joe Hernandez, Bayard 82

Lane Godfrey, Creek Valley 83

Trae Blanco, Bayard 83

David Schuler, Bayard 89

Ethan Marker, Bayard 96

Alex Dexter, Creek Valley 98

Wyatt McMillan, Creek Vally 99

McLain Beck, Garden Co. 100

Manny Acosta, Bayard 100

Creek Valley

Lane Godfrey 83

Wyatt McMillen 99

Brett Godfrey 104

Cory Phillips 106

Joe Van Winkle 122

Potter-Dix

Austin Lewis 169

Creek Valley JV

Alex Dexter 98

Ben Cabela 122

Austin Rowley 129