PEQUOT LAKES — The Pequot Lakes Patriots boys’ golf team would like to build off of last year’s seventh place team finish at the Class 2A state meet. But they will need to succeed without graduate Tyler Seeling, who finished 18th at state last spring to earn all-state honors.
“Last year was nice, simply because we actually made the state tournament and we had a good leader in Tyler,” Patriots coach Steve Stoxen said of Seeling. “That is going to be hard to replace this year. To replace the guy that's shooting 72 or lower pretty much every round, but the thing about this team that is going to be good is that we have a lot of depth.”
Other top Pequot Lakes golfers at state were Anthony Armstrong 159, Cooper Johnson 162, Tollef Birkeland 173, Michael Oseland 176 and Logan Fogarty 181.
“I think we have six to eight players that can maybe get in the range of 84 or lower,” Stoxen said. “If you can get depth in a golf team, only counting four shots, that is going to help a lot.”
“You have to have the mental part along with athletic ability. Right now, what we are going to be working on is basically the mental part of the game – being able to recover from a big number and understand that you are not going to go out there and hit it perfectly every time.”
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Stoxen said he expects Armstrong to be the team leader this year, averaging around 76 per round, but after that the team is “kind of wide open” and he expects big things from Birkeland, whom Stoxen referred to as “a pleasant surprise” last season when he was a seventh grader.
At last year’s state meet in Jordan, Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa was first with 616 while the Patriots finished with 646. At last year’s Section 6-2A meet, Seeling finished second by one stroke, but helped the Patriots finish first with 640 while St. Cloud Cathedral was a close second with 641.
“I think the section will be really competitive,” Stoxen said, “but I also think that our kids will be ready for it at that time - if we get outside.”
Stoxen added that he appreciates the local courses allowing the athletes to practice for free.
The Patriots are scheduled to open by hosting an invitational Wednesday, April 19, at The Pines at Grand View Resort.
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