Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Luke Ehlers putts on the 18th green of Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake on Thursday in the first day of competition at the Section 3AA boys golf tournament. Ehlers finished the day tied with teammate Elijah Winn for 11th place while the Tigers reached the halfway mark of the tournament in fourth place.

BUFFALO LAKE — Marshall’s Luke Ehlers and Elijah Winn finished the first day of the Section 3AA boys golf tournament tied for 11th place in the field of 90. The Tigers’ top duo led the team to a fourth-place position out of 15 teams at the halfway mark of the tournament.

The Tigers finished with a team score of 317, leaving them three strokes back of Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta and six strokes up on Minnewaska Area. New London Spicer leads the pack after the first day at 297 while New Ulm is in runner-up position at 308.

“We had some great team scores this year, which we had most of those at the beginning of the season. So as a coach, you wonder did everybody just get better? Did we let our guard down a little bit,” Marshall head coach Kari Ehlers said. “It’s stuff that requires a little more reflection, coaching-wise, but these guys… they’re going to fight back and they’ve got a lot of talent. Today was not our best day of golf, but everybody has a marginal day, today was our marginal day, so I’m hoping that the next time we play, we’re back at it.”

Winn, an eighth grader in his first season as an everyday scoring member of the varsity team, put together a steady round to reach his score of 5-over 77 on the day. He parred eight of his nine holes to start the round and added a birdie with five pars on the back nine. He didn’t go more than one stroke over par on any single hole on the back nine after logging a triple-bogey on hole 4.

“What I love about [Winn] is he just plays golf. He almost doesn’t know any better to feel the pressure and the magnitude of the tournament,” coach Ehlers said. “He’s just playing golf, and I love to watch that… I’m just so impressed at his ability to keep his emotions calm and worry about his own game.”

Luke Ehlers, a state tournament participant each of the last two seasons, got off to a slow start. He was 5-over after his first five holes but shot even-par for the remainder of his round. He started to get into his grove with a birdie on hole six before rattling off three consecutive pars, and made up for a triple-bogey on hole 12 with another pair of birdies on holes 10 and 16 on the back nine.

Coach Ehlers said that Luke felt some pressure to perform early on in the round as the team’s lone senior, citing a pull-hook out of bounds on hole 4 and a flier lie on hole 12 that resulted in him overshooting the green. Coach Ehlers added that those shots aren’t something that Luke does often, but that she was proud of the way he battled his way back into the tournament.

“I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times, he’s just really good about grinding it out,” coach Ehlers said. “That’s just one of his strengths as a golfer.” 

Through the end of the first round, Winn and Ehlers are two strokes back of the final individual state tournament slot, currently occupied by Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta’s Charlie Hanson and Luverne’s Will Bergman at 3-over 75, tied for sixth place. 

Deacon Wing finished the day as Marshall’s No. 3 scorer, slotting in 23rd at 9-over 77. He was particularly strong at the turn of the course, birdieing the ninth and 10th holes, and he closed out his round with pars on four of his final five holes.

Keegan Fossum also overcame a slow start for Marshall, sitting at 5-over through five holes and 9-over through eight. Yet, he logged a par on nine of his final 10 holes to finish the day in 28th place at 10-over 82.

“[Fossum] had a rough front nine… but then his back nine, it was like the light switch flipped,” coach Ehlers said. “You have to give him credit for bringing his head back to some good head space and just being able to play the game.”

Ethan Wendorff and Jaylen Koster also competed for Marshall, with Wendorff carding an 85 to finish the day in 39th and Koster ending the day in 57th with 90 strokes.

Marshall finished as team section champions last year, carding a team score of 600 to beat New London-Spicer by 24 strokes. Since then, they graduated three of their four scorers and five of their top six players, including section individual-runner up Jayden Manthei. Still, they’ve managed to reload and still sit in the top third of the section in this year’s tournament.

“Our guys are probably pretty disappointed about today. They’ve been pretty excited to start this tournament and, unfortunately, to make the state tournament you have to play really good golf for both days,” coach Ehlers said. “It’s kind of a bummer, but I’m hoping we make the top tier and can come back on the second day as a team. They’re just a really great group of kids, they’re really good about not throwing clubs. They’re very good about helping people find their balls. There’s very good etiquette and very good representation of the City of Marshall.”

The second day of the Section 3AA tournament is slated to begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at Oakdale Golf Club. Until then, coach Ehlers said the team will focus on improving its chipping for when it’s not hitting greens in regulation.

“We need to be close enough, within three feet, to give ourselves a chance for par, and we struggled with that today with the majority of the team,” coach Ehlers said. “If you have a good short game, you’re probably going to have a pretty good score… To be honest, it’s not really fun to practice your short game when you’re just out on the weekend or out with friends, but I hope the guys start realizing that having a good short game is probably the most important part of a good golf score.”