Published: July 23, 2014
Picking up notes
Area players build confidence for school seasons
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
MEQUON — Devon Hanson was thrilled to be at the 113th
Wisconsin Amateur Golf Championship this week at Ozaukee Country Club.
His jaw-dropping moment as to the talent level in the field
came when Nick Nelson, his playing partner Monday and Tuesday, made an eagle on
the par-4 392-yard No. 3.
“He holed out from about 148 yards and that was pretty cool
to see,” said Hanson, a junior-to-be at West Bend East.
Nelson’s eagle is one of only four for the tournament
through 36 holes, which has University of Wisconsin assistant golf coach Robbie
Ziegler out front by five strokes.
“It was a little different from the high school
tournaments,” Hanson said with a smile. “It was really cool to watch.”
It was exciting for West Bend West graduate Nathan
Kannenberg to be in the tournament as well. After coming up short three times,
including twice by a single stroke, the 2011 West grad finally made it to the
State Am.
The goal was to make the cut for the third and fourth
rounds. Both came up well short, it was still a good time.
Kannenberg finished 19 over for the tournament after
shooting a respectable 4 over in Monday’s first round.
“It was nice to finally be able to qualify,” Kannenberg
said.
“I was ecstatic,” he added about the opportunity to play in
the tournament, which was first played in 1901.
Hanson had his friend and fellow East classmate Alex
Manhardt caddy for him.
“It was a lot of fun,” Hanson said. “Just having a friend
out there made it a lot easier when I was playing bad to kind of just move on
and get over it.”
Hanson shot 13 over in Monday’s first round and 19 over
Tuesday to finish 32 over for the tournament.
“It was really cool; just making it on my first try,” Hanson
said. “Getting out here and experience it, obviously I didn’t play well these
last two days, it was fun to experience.”
In high school, an 89 like Hanson shot Tuesday or even the
83 he shot Monday in many cases is good enough to medal at 18-hole tournaments.
In two days, Hanson saw the drastic difference, which his coach Jay Krueger
said before the tournament is an eye-opening experience on Hanson’s way to
becoming an even better player.
“You’ve got to keep it in the fairway,” Hanson said.
“I learned that after a rough hole you’ve just got to move
on,” he added.
Nelson will compete in next month’s USGA Amateur
Championship, the same event Erin Hills hosted in 2011.
“It was really cool; he’s a great player,” Hanson said. “I
just picked up some stuff off his game and how he manages himself around the
golf course.”
Nelson made the cut at 9 over for the tournament, tied for
22nd.
“It was cool to be around him,” Hanson said.
“Just how he keeps his composure,” he added when asked what
he learned from Nelson in two days and 36 holes of golf. “He just keeps
plugging away. Even if he hit a bad tee shot and got in trouble, he’d still
recover and still make a bogey or par still. It was pretty crazy to watch.”
Hanson will be one of the key returning golfers for the Suns
next season. East is coming off its first Wisconsin Little Ten Conference
championship since 1986. Hanson finished second in the WLT Player of the Year
standings to Slinger’s Cal Meyers, who graduated this year.
“I played well in the qualifier so I’ve got to remember
that,” Hanson said. “I was able to experience this. Hopefully it’ll bring me
some confidence going into the rest of the summer.”
As for Kannenberg, he will be a senior this school year at
Harding University, an NCAA Division II school in Searcy, Arkansas, which is
about 45 minutes northeast of Little Rock.
He’s had a respectable college career. In three seasons with
the Bison, Kannenberg had 77.87 stroke average in 63 rounds played. His best
18-hole round is a 71 at the 2012 David Falconer Memorial. He has four top-10
finishes and one top-five finish (tied for fourth at 2014 Natural State Golf
Classic).
He ranks 13th in school history in scoring average and 11th
in winning percentage (.526).
“School’s been tough with golf and balancing that,”
Kannenberg said. “But it’ll be interesting, me being the only senior on the
team this year.”
It may or may not be a challenging year for Kannenberg, who
is majoring in biochemistry, and his teammates. There will be six freshmen this
season, including Oshkosh West graduate Logan Handy.
“With all the freshmen, I think I’m going to just try and
get them really into it and kind of set a standard because they’ll be there the
next three years,” Kannenberg said. “I feel like I can be the one to set the
tone for Harding golf for the next couple of years.”
He said he’s ready for the challenge. He also proved it on
the course.
In a tournament last season, Harding was in a playoff for
the team championship honor. Kannenberg made the tournamentwinning putt. “It
was fun being underneath that kind of pressure,” he said.
Being the lone senior on a roster full of youth, Kannenberg
will likely see more of that pressure.
“We have a really good junior (Alex Williamson) too,”
Kannenberg said. “He and I, I think, will be the two that really set the tone.”
Williamson is from Jacksonville, Florida. He is a two-time
All-Great American Conference selection.
“He’s really good,” Kannenberg said. “If he can play the
golf I know he can, he can play really well. I think if both of us play well
this school year, I don’t think there’s anything to stop us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment