Raiders disappointed with outcome

If you follow Sidney’s Taylor Barton around the golf course for a few holes without counting strokes, you’ll be hard pressed to figure out whether he’s playing well, poorly or somewhere in between. For the record he played well.

After failing to break 80 in his last three competitive rounds, Barton looked no different yesterday on his way to shooting a two-over par 74 at the Scottsbluff Country Club. It’s Barton’s best competitive round this season.

As a team Sidney, which shaved 25 strokes off its previous match at the Monument Shadows Golf club in Gering last Friday, finished sixth at 340. Aside from Barton, however, none of the Raiders seemed particularly pleased with their round. Nor did the coach.

In addition to Barton’s 74, Brendan Brown shot 83, Ryan Birner 86, Brady Radcliffe 97 and Garrett Wamsley 103. The top four scores counted towards the team total.

In the 12-team meet, host Scottsbluff ran away with top honors with a 293 total including the two low individual scores shot by Andrew Holloway (70) and Michael Hadden (71). Broken Bow (310) and McCook (312) were second and third respectively.

“We still have to play better,” Christensen said. “The younger players have to learn how to compete and not make stupid mistakes.”

As for the older players, Barton recovered from a double bogey on the fourth hole with three birdies at nine, 13 and 15.

On nine he reached the 505-yard par five in two with a four iron and two putted.

On 13, a par 4, Barton looked like he found trouble as he pushed his drive right towards a clump of trees. But his club choice overshot the trouble and he was able to get up-and-down for a three.

His last hole of the day, 15, Barton set himself up perfectly with a long drive down the middle of the fairway. Going for it in two, he pulled his iron shot left. But he excecuted a near perfect pitch to two feet for a tap-in birdie.

After his round Barton creditied putting for his season-best score. But Christensen saw it a little differently.

“He always putts well,” said Christensen. “The difference for Taylor is finally getting to hit some (practice) balls.”

As for Brown’s 83, which was seven strokes better than Gering, he shrugged off the improvement. Brown suggested at Gering he won’t be completely satisfield unless he breaks 80.

As for the improvement from four days prior, “I concentrated better,” he said.

Birner led the trio of freshmen.

“My short game was working really well,” said Birner. “Really everything was working pretty well except my driver.”

Wamsley, whose score failed to count for the first time in several matches, was plagued by his short irons.

“My short game and putting were terrible,” he said. “And then it seemed to spread to the rest of my game.”

The biggest factor in Tuesday’s match, however, may be the venue. The Scottsbluff Country Club is the host sight for the upcoming district tournament.

“That’s a huge benefit,” Christensen said of having a competitive round at the site where districts will be held.

Christensen is also bringing his team back to Scottsbluff for an overnight stay after graduation on Sunday. The team will get in a practice round on Sunday before the District Tournament on Monday. While Barton and Brown have played the course on multiple prior occassions, none of the freshmen had seen S.C.C. before Tuesday.