PRINT ADS

Holmen High School junior Billy Pearse played better in relation to par Tuesday at Monday and Tuesday's Division 1 state golf tournament. But the rest of the field did as well, leaving Pearse just short of the middle of the 104-player field.

Pearse finished with a two-day total of 18-over-par 41-41-40-40-162. The opening day 82 left him in a tie for 57th overall and 27th among all underclassmen. His second-day 80 was the 43rd-best round in the field, but left him in a tie for 59th overall and 29th among underclassmen.

“He played a really good round today,” Holmen head coach Paul Laxton said. “He hit it really well, but couldn't get a putt to drop.

“He had a birdie putt on nearly even hole (10) he parred. He had plenty of birdie opportunities, including a couple of six-footers.”

Pearse missed just one of nine fairways on his front nine Tuesday, which started on hole No. 10, and missed just one green on the front nine, on the par-3 2nd hole.

“The score didn't reflect how I played,” Pearse said.

Pearse started and finished poorly in his first round, however. He opened with a double-bogey on his first hole, No. 10, while also posting bogeys on his final two holes, No.'s 8 and 9. A buried lie cost him a stroke on No. 8, while his lone three-putt cost him a finishing bogey.

“He was a little overexcited the first day,” Laxton said. “But today he did a better job of taking an extra club to get to the green when he needed to on certain holes.”

Pearse also misclubbed once and took one penalty stroke during Monday's round. Pearse's best shot during Tuesday's round came on No. 3, when his drive ended up on a new tee box being built for the fourth hole in two. Instead of taking a drop, Pearse elected to play the shot from the tee box, flopping a lofted wedge a few feet from the hole, and convering the up-and-down for par.

“He had a hard time reading the greens both rounds,” Pearse said. “But that wedge shows the type of touch shot he has in his bag.”

While Pearse's rounds meant the Vikings were part of the state scene for the second straight year, the program's undisputed goal remains to qualify for state as a team. In addition to Pearse, HHS returns Sam Kube, Brandon Temte and James DeBoer from this year's fourth-place sectional finisher.

“We're going to be returning one of the better teams in the sectional,” Laxton said. “A lot of the other teams in our sectional will be losing a lot more.

“We need to improve our course management. We need to play the course instead of playing more for a score.

“We also need to play more competition in the summer. Golf is a pretty competitive sport on the state level.”

Holmen's only graduation loss from among its top five is Ben Williams. Williams advanced to sectionals each of the last two years, with the team this spring and as an individual in 2007. Williams, who will attend Wisconsin-Madison in hopes of becoming a doctor, was a four-time lettermen.

“He made big improvements throughout the course of his career,” Laxton said. “But he was also pretty consistent and a player his teammates looked up to. He really enjoys the sport, and his teammates fed off that.”