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Lancers' Nutter, Lourdes' Rich earn top-10 finishes at state golf meet

jason feldman, post-bulletin, rochester, minn.
·5 min read

Jun. 14—JORDAN — Six of the top eight individual finishers at the Section 1AA boys golf meet last month shot a higher score in the final round than in the opening round.

Ryan Nutter was one of them.

The La Crescent-Hokah sophomore was determined to not take the same path through the Class AA state meet this week at the Ridges at Sand Creek.

He was successful.

Nutter opened the meet on Tuesday with a solid round of 3-over-par 75, which left him in a tie for 17th place, but just two shots out of the top-10. Nutter stayed cool throughout the final round of the season on Wednesday, shooting the second-best round of the day — a 1-over 73 — to finish the 36-hole meet at 4-over-par 148 and in a four-way tie for fifth place.

The Lancers' young standout started the day strong, making a birdie on the 550-yard, par-5 first hole. He made two more birdies in his round, two bogeys and one double-bogey. He parred the other 12 holes and avoided big scores on holes that could have inflated his overall score. He played the par-5s in 3-under, the par-4s in 4-over and was even on the par-3s.

Nutter placed third at the Section 1AA meet last month, shooting 73-77 — 150 at Northern Hills to qualify for state for a second consecutive season.

One of the top finishers at that section meet, who improved his score from Day 1 to Day 2, was two-time section meet medalist Colton Rich, a sophomore at Rochester Lourdes. Rich went 72-71 — 143 at the section meet to win by one stroke over Red Wing's John Ahrens.

This week, Rich was again steady, going 74-76 — 150 to earn his first-ever top-10 finish at state, in his second trip to the meet. He tied for 10th, making two birdies and six bogeys; he had no score worse than bogey on any hole. He also had 10 pars in his final round. Every hole he bogeyed, he bounced back by making par or birdie on the next.

Rich placed 26th at state last year as a freshman.

—Totino-Grace overcame a four-shot deficit after Round 1 to win the state title by four strokes. Totino shot back-to-back rounds of 299 for a 598 total; runner-up Holy Family Catholic led after a first-round 295, but it shot 307 Wednesday to finish at 602 for the meet.

—Staples-Motley sophomore Carter White hung around par all week and he hung around the top of the leaderboard all week. In the end, his name was atop the leaderboard after shooting two even-par rounds of 72, for a 144 total, good for meet medalist honors. White was the only player to shoot even-par or better on Wednesday, when he used four birdies and four bogeys to reach 72. He was at his best down the stretch, playing the final eight holes in 2-under.

—After Nutter and Rich, Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa senior Michael Scripture had the best finish of any Section 1AA golfer. Scripture, in fact, tied Rich for the second-best round of the day Wednesday, a 1-over-par 73. That came on the heels of Scripture's first-round 79; his meet total of 152 was good for a 16th-place finish.

—Scripture's strong finish led the PIZM boys to a sixth-place finish in the team standings. The defending state champion Wildcats shot 319 in the first round and 320 in the second for a 639 total.

—Lake City sophomore Braxton Berlin shot back-to-back 79s for a 158 total and a 33rd-place finish. He had two birdies in his first eight holes Wednesday.

—Four golfers who were in the top 10 after the first round dropped out, including Day 1 leader Luke Ashbrook of Kimball Area. After opening with a 2-under-par 70 on Tuesday, Ashbrook shot 88 on Wednesday and finished in a tie for 33rd.

—Totino-Grace had three players finish in the top five: Peyton Savageau tied for second (73-74 — 147), while Andrew Ramos and Nate Appelhof tied for fifth (148).

—Roseau senior Max Wilson also tied for second, after going 73-74 — 147. He had nine birdies in the meet, including five on Wednesday. He was derailed a bit by taking a 10 on the par-5 16th hole in his final round. Wilson would have tied for the state title with a double-bogey on that hole.

CLASS AA BOYS

TEAM TOTALS

1. Totino-Grace 299-299 — 598, 2. Holy Family Catholic 295-307 — 602, 3. Cloquet 310-308 — 618, 4. Roseau 318-306 — 624, 5. Blake 315-312 — 627, 6. Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa 319-320 — 639, 7. New London-Spicer 320-325 — 645, 8. Albany 329-326 — 655.

INDIVIDUALS

(Top 10 + Section 1 golfers)

1. Carter White (Staples-Motley) 72-72 — 144, 2t. Max Wilson (Roseau) 73-74 — 147, 2t. Peyton Savageau (Totino) 73-74 — 147, 2t. Karson Patten (Cloquet) 74-73 — 147, 5t. Andrew Ramos (Totino) 72-76 — 148, 5t. Nate Appelhof (Totino) 74-74 — 148, 5t. Ryan Nutter (La Crescent-Hokah) 75-73 — 148, 5t. PJ Herron (Holy Family) 72-76 — 148, 9. Luke Maas (Watertown-Mayer) 73-76 — 149, 10t. Christopher Zhao (Blake) 71-79 — 150, 10t. Ryder Carlson (Holy Family) 74-76 — 150, 10t. Colton Rich (Lourdes) 74-76 — 150, 10t. Holdyn Evjen (Hermantown) 75-75 — 150,

16t. Michael Scripture (PIZM) 79-73 — 152, 33t. Braxton Berlin (Lake City) 79-79 — 158, 48t. Joseph Scripture (PIZM) 81-82 — 163, 48t. Collin Fogarty (PIZM) 83-80 — 163, 55t. Garett Sperber (PIZM) 79-86 — 165, 55t. John Ahrens (Red Wing) 80-85 — 165, 59t. Cameron Bruns (PIZM) 80-86 — 166, 75t. Josh Scripture (PIZM) 89-85 — 174, 88. Noah Amundson (Byron) 96-95 — 191.