Woodbury boys golf: Myers, Royals open season with a bang

The 2012 high school golf season began in earnest on Monday as the Royals hit the course for the prestigious 33rd annual Hudson Invitational.

Boasting a veteran lineup, Woodbury shot a 350 to take third place in the 12-team tournament, held at Troy Burne Golf Club in Hudson, Wis. Tartan won the Hudson Invitational with a five-person 333.

“The kids weren’t overly pleased with their game at first, but once they saw the rest of the scores they were pleased,” Woodbury second-year head coach Mike Anderson said. “I think they realized they weren’t the only ones having a difficult day out there.”

Anderson said the course is one of the hardest Woodbury will play all year. It’s rated as one of the top 10 most difficult courses in the state of Wisconsin. Temperatures in the 40s and wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour didn’t help either.

“It was very windy,” Anderson said. “If you can imagine trying to hit your ball around out there, it was very difficult. The boys did very well for the weather the way it was. But, nobody put their head down. They kept going.”

Despite the conditions, Woodbury junior Mike Myers shot a team-best 83 on the day, which tied for fourth place overall in the invitational.

Anderson said he was impressed with Myers’ early-season score.

“Mike was All-Conference last year and he and Nate (Wareham) are expected to lead us this year,” Anderson said. “I thought Mike played great.”

In addition to Myers, senior Nate Wareham carded an 87, senior Matt Hamilton and junior Thomas Swedenborg each scored 90 and senior Matt Jordahl shot a 93.

“It’s a good place to start the year,” Anderson said.

Although the weather was rough on Monday, Anderson said the mild weather in March allowed his team to be outside practicing for the past three weeks.

“It’s been a great start to the year,” he said. “Last year we didn’t get outside until five days before our first match. The good news is we’ve been able to get outside. The bad news is they’re not used to the cold weather.”

Woodbury traveled down Highway 61 to River Oaks Golf Course for an invitational hosted by Park on Tuesday after the Bulletin went to print. The Royals’ next competition and first Suburban East Conference tourney will be April 17 at North Oaks Golf Club.

Anderson says he believes tournaments are nearly as important as conference matches.

“Invitationals allow you to compare yourself to the whole Twin Cities, but those conference matches are what we gear up for,” he said. “All those guys have been playing against each other for a while. There’s some familiarity and, maybe, some more desire to compete.”

Along with experience, Anderson said his team’s main strength this year may be its depth and he believes his team will be in the mix in the conference and the section.

“I like our chances,” he said. “Forest Lake is the best team in the conference I think. They’re returning the defending individual state champion, so that has some merit. But, golf is a team sport and we’re very deep all the way up and down our varsity and JV roster. I think that’s where we’ll separate ourselves.”

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