Bandon golf team competes in national invitational

Bandon’s state champion boys golf team competed last week in the national high school invitational tournament in Frisco, Texas.

The Tigers finished 48th out of 50 teams in the event, which they were in for the first time. One of the squad’s top players opted to stay in Oregon to compete in junior events here and did not make the trip.

The group that did compete included Peyton Simonds, Logan France, Zack Robertson, Sean Ells and Carter Brown.

Simonds played great the first two days of the event, shooting a 1-over 73 on the first day and an even-par 72 on the second. His third-day score was 87.

France led the team the third day with an 84. Carter Brown had the second-best scores for the team both the first and second days with an 85 and a 92 (he shot a 96 the final day). Ells also had a 92 the second day. He had a 90 the first day and a 92 the third day.

Robertson improved from 108 to 97 to 90 over the three days. France improved from 104 to 94 to 84.

Bandon’s team total was 191 over for the three days (the top four scores for each team count each day).

The winning team from George was 12-under par over the three days and two other teams also finished under par. Summit High School of Bend, the only other Oregon team in the invitation-only field, was 12th at 32-over.

The individual champion was Josiah Hakala of New Hampshire, who finished 14-under. The runner up was Davis Hartwell of Oregon, who finished a shot back. Hartwell, who is from Crosspoint Christian High School and was the Class 3A-2A-1A individual champion this spring, played as an individual. Simonds finished in a tie for 146th at 16-over.

There were more than 300 golfers in all in the event.