As fall sports come to an end, the Men’s Golf team looked to show the NWC teams that they are contenders for a conference championship in the spring.
The NWC Fall Classic took place at Chehalem Glenn on October 24 and 25. Play was suspended on the 24 due to darkness in the later hours of play. The ‘Cats placed fourth out of the nine teams.
Weather was an issue that weekend, with gusts of wind up to 60 mph. Debri was all over the course and was an issue for some players. “Depending on the weather, we will work on different types of shots and trajectories,” said freshman Lucas Balala in an email. “We knew the weather was going to be bad, but nothing could have prepared us for 60 mph winds.  The course was nearly unplayable.”
Balala and freshman Logan Davis both finished tied for 23 overall. The two freshmen played outstanding given the conditions and finishing 23 overall among 44 players is not bad. “Personally, I had a great weekend driving the golf ball, but my play from the fairway was not nearly as good as it needed to be,” said Balala “As a team, we struggled finishing as the 4 counting scores on the first day played the last two holes at a combined +8 over par.”
The seniors for Linfield showed the other NWC why they are contenders for a conference title. Senior Kevin Kawasaki finished ninth overall and senior Taylor Klopp finished tied for 11 overall. “We have to get better as a team,” said senior Kevin Kawasaki in an email. “End of story. If we want to make moves in the spring. With a 4th place finish we need to do some good things in the spring in order to win a conference championship.”
Linfield, placing fourth overall, was in the middle of the pack. The ‘Cats have been finishing in this area the majority of the Fall season, but aren’t satisfied with the results and know where to make the changes. “Some of the weakness we’ve had all year has been our putting,” said Kawasaki. “We put ourselves in good situations and can’t convert some 10 footers for birdie. Putting is all mental so we need to work on that for the spring.”
For the ‘Cats it is hard to be satisfied with the results of placing fourth, but they have high hopes for the spring season.
“Obviously we were hoping to place higher, but throughout the season this is about where we stacked up so it wasn’t too surprising,” said Balala. “We are still in contention for the conference title. We will need to win the last conference tournament, but our goal was to stay in contention and we achieved that goal.”
The Linfield Wildcats look to practice hard in the offseason until the spring season starts. The ‘Cats look towards the future and know that a conference title is fully in their grasps for the spring season.