Bruin golfers ready for district

Two months of hard work and hours spent on the golf course for the Rock Bridge girls’ golf team will come to a head Tuesday at the Missouri Class 2, District 4 Tournament at Meadow Lake Acres in New Bloomfield.

But for the Bruins, their final 18-hole meet in preparation for district play couldn’t have been much worse.

Rock Bridge struggled to a 10th place finish at the Capitol City Classic on Monday, shooting a season-worst 411 as a team at Jefferson City Country Club. They finished 74 strokes behind Pembroke Hill, the tournament champions.

“It was by far the hardest course we’ve played,” head coach Melissa Melahn said. “The pin placements were impossible. We knew going into it that the greens would give us problems, but the pins were absolutely ridiculous.”

Melahn wasn’t entirely disappointed with her team’s performance, though. She stressed that Jefferson City Country Club isn’t as open as the courses they usually play.

“It is a placement golf course, where you can’t just rip it and you’ll be OK,” she said. “It’s good practice because the courses we’ll play at districts and at state are placement courses, too.”

If anything, she knows that Monday’s struggles will jolt her players. According to Melahn, the higher scores mean that the girls need to look more at the team aspect and that everyone needs to play well in order for the team to succeed.

The good news for Rock Bridge is that almost every team struggled on Monday. Of the competing teams, Hickman, Helias, Jefferson City and Rock Bridge were all in the same range, which should set up for a close finish at the district meet.

“(District) is going to come down to every last stroke counting,” Melahn said. “We need to work on being relaxed.”

Anna Coil, Rock Bridge’s No. 1 player and only player with state experience, is trying her best to block out Monday’s debacle, and knows the team has enough ability to return to form.

“I’ve been hitting my driver every way but straight, and I can always work on my short game and chipping,” Coil, a senior, said. “But (Monday’s tournament) isn’t going to get me down.

“I’m comfortable at Meadow Lake. I’m not too worried about districts, I think we’re good enough to advance.”

One player who evidently didn’t know that Jefferson City Country Club was supposed to be so difficult was senior Danielle Kellar, the Bruins No. 4 player.

Kellar continued her recent hot streak with a 92, good for a 15th place tie out of 85 golfers. It was one of her better rounds of the season, and it came at the perfect time for her teammates.

“I’m a lot more confident,” Kellar said. “I feel like I’m finally back on track. It’s the best I’ve been playing all year. I’d lost it for a while but I think I’m back.”

Although she claimed not to be very fond of Meadow Lake, Kellar knows her familiarity with the course will help during the district tournament.

“It helps with distances and knowing what club to hit, but sometimes thinking about past times on the course hurts you,” she said.

The final regular season tune-up for the Bruins is Thursday, when Moberly and Helias visit Lake of the Woods Golf Course in Columbia for a nine-hole match. On Saturday, Melahn will take the starting five to Meadow Lake for a practice round and the whole squad will have a “sending off” dinner on Monday night before the district tournament.