Bulldogs snag second at rainy Flatfish tourney

The Whitefish High School golf teams managed to finish second in the two-day Flatfish Invitational hosted at Whitefish Lake Golf Club, along with Village Greens and Buffalo Hills this past week.

Last Friday, the boys played the South Course in Whitefish, while the girls were at Village Greens in Kalispell. On Saturday, the boys played at Buffalo Hills, while the girls were at Whitefish Lake's South Course.

After the first day, both teams found themselves in third place and needed to rally on day two to move up. Glacier High School's boys team, the favorite, was in the lead, while a strong team from CMR out of Great Falls held the top-spot for girls in the 13-team tournament. The Lady Bulldogs also trailed their Class A rival Polson by six shots after the first round at Village Greens.

The Whitefish girls were led by BreAnna Cameron's 81 at Village Greens, with Kiley McConnell close behind at 83. Danielle McCully and Quinn Micklewright helped the girls to their season-long second-best score of 341, with scores of 88 and 89 respectfully.

For McCully, her 88 matched her career-best round and could have been lower except for a short, missed putt on the 18th hole. McConnell posted a 38 on the front nine of her round at Village Greens. Despite the girls' excellent play, they still trailed leader CMR and second-place Polson.

With play moving to Whitefish Lake's South course, the girls managed to move ahead of Polson by eight shots for the two-day tournament. Micklewright managed to record an 89 on day two to lead the girls' comeback.

"The rain was relentless all day long at Whitefish, and it really affected the girls' scores," head coach Terry Nelson said. "But Quinn persevered to post the best Lady Bulldog round of the day."

The boys blew by second-place CMR on day two on their way to a good team score of 308 to finish second themselves behind the Class AA favorite team, Glacier High, led by Larry Iverson III.

Iverson finished as medalist for the tournament with an even par showing for the two-day total. Reed Platke finished in second place with rounds of 74-73 to trail Iverson by just three shots.

Joel Mallams had his career-best round at Buffalo Hills, posting a one-under-par score of 71 and edged Iverson for the second-day low score. Mallams finished one shot behind Platke in third place with his 77-71 scores.

Mallams started his round on Friday at Whitefish Lake's South Course by hitting his initial tee shot out of bounds left. He rallied and held it together to post the 77 for the day. On day two, Mallams was three-over after four holes and then turned it around, going four-under on the remaining 14 holes. Freshman Platke didn't blink as he played pretty much head-to-head with Iverson on the second day.

Joe Blakemore, playing his first tournament on the varsity team, posted a respectable score of 83 to help the Bulldogs capture second place. Ryan Zalucky had an extremely disappointing first day but came back at Buffalo Hills with an 81. Zach Maassen finished at 80-84 to finish third for the 'Dogs with his two-day total.

"The Flatfish is always a good tune up for the state tournament, which is at Polson this Friday and Saturday," Nelson said. "I think we have a shot at placing fairly high at the state again this year, if we can play our best steady rounds."