Golf takes 7th in Lander

Playing with a five-man team, Saratoga High School took seventh as a team at the Lander Invite Golf Tournament last week.

Individually, senior Braxton Schwartzkopf placed fourth after shooting a 77-77 – 154, one stroke more than his third place finish at the Rawlins Invitational. Chaze Wiant broke a one-round 100 for the second time in his career with a 110-98 – 208 effort, five strokes under last week’s score. The third veteran player, Guy Erickson, shot a 99-99 – 198, four over his score at the Sinclair course last week.

The two new freshman on the team played in the Lander tournament. Wiatt Carricato shot 119-128 – 243 and Jaxon King shot 136-138 – 274. The additional players helped the team achieve their seventh place ranking at the tournament.

Pinedale’s Jordan Costello took first at the Lander invite with a 72-75 – 147 two round total.

Team coach Matt Daubner said that he is excited about Wiant breaking 100 again, “We are hoping to see some more out of him.” Daubner said Wiant has the potential to break the 95 barrier this season.

Schwartzkopf had a couple of “hiccups” on some holes according to Daubner. Schwartzkopf faltered with a couple of double bogeys and a triple bogey as the result of a some of poor drives and a lost ball.

“What’s nice about Braxton is that if he has a bad hole he moves on and realizes there are a lot of holes left,” Daubner said. That allows Schwartzkopf to maintain a low score.

Daubner said he thinks Erickson is close to breaking through to consistently lower scores. “He’ll play seven good holes and then have a big number,” Daubner said.

With his veteran players, Daubner just wants to get them out on the course before the next tournament. He said the most important thing for them is just to get some playing time in so that their game can become more consistent.

The two rookie players need to work on their putting, according to Daubner. Daubner said the two can probably save 18 to 20 shots per round if they hone their game on the green.

At this point in the season, Daubner is still expecting Schwartzkopf to be a competitor for the top slot in the state tournament. “Braxton is one of the three to four guys in our 2A that are all the same, any day they could jump up and win the thing,” Daubner said. With the way that Wiant and Erickson are playing right now Daubner said he thinks they could make a strong showing at the state tournament as well.

The next golf tournament for Saratoga will be on Sept. 11 and 12 at Douglas. There are only two more tournaments before the state championship at the end of September.