OXBOW, N.D. — The Dickinson Trinity golf team entered the 2022 NDHSAA Class B boys Golf State Tournament with confidence May 31 and June 1 at the Oxbow Country Club, in Oxbow, ND.
With water on 15 of the 18 holes, and freezing wind throughout the day, the boys were faced with a tremendous long ball accuracy challenge for much of the tourney. The tournament consisted of 18 teams and 129 individual golfers who made their best effort to land their shots with precision.
At the end of the day, Kindred’s team would claim first, followed by Oak Grove and Central Cass who were tied for second. Beulah’s team trailed closely behind in fourth.
Dickinson Trinity’s 6-man team consisted of seniors Tyler Brusseau, Cade Fitterer, Logan Gross, Ty Dassinger, Ty Praus and Ayden Merry. As a team, the boys finished in 10th place.
“The course beat us up a little bit, we didn’t play very well on day one, so it was tough to battle back for day two,” Jake Selinger, Trinity golf coach, said. “The boys played better the second day and I was really proud of them for not giving up.”
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In the round one foursome, Gross struggled with double bogies at 7 of the 18 holes. At hole 17, he got his first and only birdie of the round and finished with a 98 total.
Dassinger also started out with a rocky performance in round one, unable to nail any birdies, but did execute his shots for par throughout. Praus would finish with 4 double bogies on the front nine, and 6 on the back nine. Hitting a total of 3 par shots throughout the 18-hole course in round one, Praus' performance mirrored Merry with a score chart filled with bogies and double bogies.
Fitterer performed the strongest for the team with two birdies in round one, and 5 out of 18 for par.
“The course was nothing like we were used to playing,” Fitterer said. “The courses in our region are mostly wide open, so we had to be a lot more disciplined. The second hole of the day I took a 10 but I just told myself it was a privilege to be on a course like that and I had to bounce back.”
The Titans made a fighting turn around with considerably improved shot accuracy on day two. Dassinger was on par for 4 of his 18 shots and had one birdie on hole 15. With a chart still full of bogies and double bogies, he wasn’t able to make it to the top of the leader board and finished individually in 65th place for a four-way tie. Senior Tyler Brusseau’s shots on the ball were accurate for almost half of the 18 holes in the second round but he wasn’t able to execute a perfect swing for a birdie or eagle. Gross was on par for more of his strokes with a 95-point score on the round. Cade Fitterer’s accuracy and drive continued into the second round with 2 birdies and 6 out of 18 on-par shots. He finished in 21st place individually for a four-way tie. As a team, the boys had a total gross score of 645.
“It’s a hard course with lots of trouble off the tee as far as losing your ball,” Selinger said. We had never played the course before and there isn’t a lot of room for error on any shots, so it punished you if you made a mistake. Our young golfers learned a lot about how important it is to keep the ball in play.”
In individual standings, Champ Hettich of Beulah finished first followed by Kindred’s Paul Olson in second and Zach Hendrickson in third. Bowman County’s Karsen Kulseth placed ninth for a three-way tie with Max McQuillan of Kindred and Aidan Hall of North-Class. Cody Card of Oak Grove was named NDHSCA Class B Boys Golf senior athlete of the year.
With some graduating seniors moving on from Trinity’s high school golf program, Fitterer, Dassinger and Gross will be the only three returning members from the state team next year.
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“Consistency will be the key to our success,” Selinger said. “My kids are a fun group and I’ve enjoyed coaching them this season.”
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