Photo of Runner-Up Karsen Kalous and Coaches Gregg Winters and Chase Kalous
The Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys golf team hosted their annual 18 hole Bulldog Invite on Saturday at the Hampton Country Club.
Team Standings:
1. Forest City – 335
2. Iowa Falls-Alden – 352
3. Hampton-Dumont-CAL – 371
5. North Butler – 402
IFA’s Karsen Kalous was the runner-up with an 80. This was his fourth top two finish of the season. Also inside the top 10 for the Cadets was Kale Kalous in ninth place with an 89.
Karsen Kalous on his round in Hampton and preparing to tee off at the biggest meets of the year.
“I thought I played pretty well. I hit some shots that I didn’t want to hit, but I thought I bounced back really well and finished strong. It’s great practice. It’s a great way to see how your swing feels after 18 and it’s just really good for you,” says Kalous. “There’s always parts of your game that can improve. I feel like having all your parts line up on the right day is really important. I feel like my iron play is pretty consistent and I can pretty much hit the ball where I want to most of the time. Just stay positive, continue working and do better.”
Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s Sean Heilskov finished in fourth place with an 82, followed by teammate Brody Robertson with a 95 in 14th place.
H-D-CAL Head Coach Trevor Eiklenborg on the team’s top three finish and a top five round by Heilskov.
“They know the course better than anybody, that helped us out a little bit. We had some good stretches of good golf, but then we ran into some bad holes and that’s kind of what hurt us. It’s kind of been the story of the season, putting four or five good holes together and then having that one really big hole. We’re trying to get rid of that and then we’ll get a lot lower scores,” says Eiklenborg. “That was good to see from him. He is always a kid that has a great attitude. No matter how the round’s going, you’ll go out there, he’s always joking around with you, whether the round’s going well or it’s going terrible. I think that’s a big reason why he has so much success. That was good to see before conference on Monday. He’ll be confident going in and we’ll see what happens.”
North Butler’s Lincoln Johnson placed seventh with an 88, followed by teammate Carter Backer with a 102 in 18th place.
North Butler Head Coach Todd Thompson on the challenge of Hampton’s course and the preparation it provides.
“I really enjoy coming to Hampton and how the guys play there. The course is always in great shape and it’s a way that we can kind of try to fine tune some things with their games. It was a challenge getting a ball and keeping it in play all the way up to the green. Most of the guys’ scores reflected that,” says Thompson. “Lincoln had a nice day. He shot a 46 on the first nine and a 42 the second nine. He was one of the few guys that were able to keep the ball in play for most of the day. It is by far the tightest course we played during the season. This is good preparation for our guys to get ready for tournament action coming up this week.”
Up next, Hampton-Dumont-CAL and Iowa Falls-Alden will compete in the North Central Conference meet on Monday in Mason City. North Butler will take the course at the Top of Iowa Conference East meet at Nashua Plainfield on Monday.
