A trio of golfers battled the elements and the course to even terms during the South Dakota Golf Association Sanford International Series event at Moccasin Creek Country Club on Monday.
Olivia Braun of Aberdeen won the girls’ crown with an even-par total of 72, while Tyson Blom of Sioux Falls edged Gavin Colson of Onida on a second playoff hole to win the boys’ championship after both golfers finished with identical even-par totals of 72.
It was Braun’s first SDGA win of the summer after capturing the Class AA State Individual Championship about a month ago.
“I’ve had a couple of seconds since the state tournament,” Braun said, “and I’ve learned from the last couple times I’ve played to kind of wind it back in, focus more on the process, and take it just hole by hole.”
Last season at the same event Braun shot a blistering round of 67 to win the tourney.
The senior to be at Aberdeen Central, said that part of the of enjoyment about golf is the challenge each time out.
“I think that’s the thing I love about golf is, you’re never done,” Braun said. “You always gotta work on something, and if something’s not there, then you know you have to back up, take a look at it and see how you can fix it.”
While the wind wasn’t quite as strong as last year’s tournament, it was still a factor on the day.
“The wind definitely picked up halfway through the round,” Braun said. “You have to take that into consideration. I love this course.”
When told the course probably loves her as well, Braun responded, “It should. I play here like every day.”
Braun believes familiarity with the course makes a difference, especially mentally.
“I think definitely on the mental aspect,” Braun said, “knowing, hey I know this break, this putt breaks here or you don’t want to hit it here.”
Braun is getting in plenty of golf this summer. She said a big key is getting enough sleep in order to be ready to go.
“I just try to wake up every day and just try to be patient with myself,” Braun said, “because that’s a big thing in golf.”
It was a bit of Deja Vu in the boys’ division. Last year’s tourney ended in a three-way tie that included Colson. Just like last year, Colson was the first leader in and had to wait out the competition not knowing if he would need to return to the course.
This time the wait was even longer than last season.
“I warmed up on the range for a little bit,” Colson said of what he did to try to stay sharp, “but obviously didn’t want to hit balls the whole time, because it was an hour and a half.”
Blom and Colson both parred the first playoff hole, before Blom got the upper hand on the second hole when Colson’s third shot landed behind a tree.
From there Blom just kept it steady, much like his round, and ended up winning the title.
“I just tried to make a lot of pars to be honest. Birdies are hard to come by, especially in this wind and the course,” Blom said. “I had never played this course. I was playing it blind. It’s a tough course. Getting a round at even, it was a great round for Gavin and I was happy with it for myself.”
Blom said he tends to play a bit more conservative with a lot on the line, but also goes for shots when he feels the need to.
“It definitely is easier to stay conservative and just kind of put one in play,” Blom said, “but if it’s an open hole, I’d say you just try to be aggressive, and try and make birdie.”
It marked the first Sanford Tour win for the 15-year-old, who golfs for Sioux Falls Lincoln.
“It’s a good one to win,” Blom said. “I haven’t won one of these Sanford Series tournaments yet, so it’s cool to win one. I was pretty pleased with how I played today.”
Meanwhile, it marked the second straight runner-up finish for Colson at the same tournament in Aberdeen.
“It was a pretty solid day,” Colson said.
The upcoming senior at Sully Buttes has won state championships in multiple sports. He was the Class B Individual State Champion last season in golf, and was part of the Sully Buttes football team that won the Class 9B state championship last fall.
Colson, who also plays basketball for the Chargers, said there is common thread between the sports.
“The competitiveness just runs through every sport,” Colson said. “I think that flows through all of it.”
He said the state titles were equally satisfying.
“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” Colson said of winning a state championship, “I can tell you that much.”
Watertown’s Brynn Roehrich has won multiple Class B Individual State Championships while competing for Clark-Willow Lake. The upcoming junior finished second to Braun on Monday in the girls’ division, despite losing and handful of golf balls.
Roehrich was pleased with her round of 78 “besides the fact that I lost five golf balls today, so that’s five strokes in penalties right there.”
She said once a ball is lost, you just have to refocus and move on to the next shot.
“I can’t fix a shot that I just hit, the only thing I can do is try and find it,” Roehrich said, “and if I don’t, I guess I’ve got to move on to the next shot and it is what it is.”
Roehrich obviously did a lot of other things well to finish in the runner-up position.
“I had a lot of good up and downs, and rolled in a few putts that definitely helped the scorecard,” Roehrich said, “and just couldn’t buy a thing with my driver. It was always all over the place.”
The girls’ division on Monday featured a strong field of golfers with numerous defending and past champions.
“Obviously, when I come to these things I want to try and win, and I want to win, but the girls in South Dakota, I mean, it’s really great to have this good of competition around here,” Roehrich said. “There’s a lot of good girls that are going D-I, D-II, that we get to play against.”
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