Martin leads Wildcats to runner-up finish

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 6, 2016

The Louisburg High School golf team poses with their medals Monday following the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational. The Wildcats finished second overall with a 331. Members of the team are (from left) Nick Welch, Kai Tinich, Ty Martin, Hogan Welch, Anders Vance and T.J. Svoboda.

(Photo courtesy of T.J. Svoboda)

GARDNER – It didn’t take long for Ty Martin to get into the full swing of things.

The Louisburg junior looked like he was in midseason form Monday when the Wildcat golf team opened its season at the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational as Martin shot the best round of his high school career.

Martin carded an even-par 71 to lead the Wildcats to a second-place team finish at the Gardner Golf Course. Individually, Martin finished one stroke behind Piper’s Eric Pahls to take second as well.

“We played some good teams and I was hoping we would get third or fourth,” Louisburg coach Brian Burns said. “Ty helped us tremendously to get second place as a team.”

As a team, the Wildcats shot a 331 to finish seven strokes behind first place Piper, which shot a 324. De Soto took third with a 334. However, it was Martin who helped guide Louisburg to a strong opening start.

Martin connected on four birdies during the 18-hole round and made few mistakes along the way. He and the rest of the teammates were able to take advantage of a Gardner course that played to their strengths.

“The greens really helped us out,” Burns said. “They are normally cut right before the tournament and are pretty fast and you have to be careful. We were able to be aggressive.”

Louisburg also had two other medalists on the day as seniors T.J. Svoboda and Hogan Welch each shot an 83 to come in 12^th and 13^th, respectively.

Junior Nick Welch finished fourth on the Wildcat team with a 94, while senior Anders Vance shot a 95. Sophomore Kai Tinich shot a 122 to round out the Louisburg team.

“Hogan and T.J. shot a very good score in the low 80s,” Burns said. “At the same time, both are able to shoot in the high 70s at Gardner, but it just didn’t come all together for them as they struggled on a few holes. Nick shot his best ever and Anders, a newcomer, could easily drop five strokes or so. We are looking good for it being so early in the season.”