Martin returns to lead Wildcat golf

Louisburg’s Ty Martin chips onto the green Monday during the Paola Invitational at Paola Country Club. Martin shot an 86 to lead the Wildcats to a third-place team finish.

PAOLA – For the second straight week, the Louisburg golf team brought home a top three team finish and two individual medalists.

The Wildcats welcomed back Ty Martin to the fold as he made his season debut and it was a good one. On Monday at the Paola Invitational, Martin led the Wildcats as he medaled 12th overall with an 86 and helped Louisburg to a third place finish with a 357.

Martin missed the team’s opening tournament at Gardner and the Wildcats placed third as a team there as well.

“We missed out on having Ty at our first tournament,” Louisburg coach Brian Burns said. “We would have gotten second or possibly even first.”

Martin wasn’t the only Wildcat to come home with a medal as Hogan Welch was right behind Martin and took 14th after he shot an 88.

Central Heights’ Matt Percy was the top individual medalist with a 76 and Paola’s Tyler Dent was second with a 77 on his home course at Paola Country Club. Paola also won the team crown with a 319 and Kansas City Christian was second with a 334.

The Wildcats were welcomed with some tough playing conditions as the wet course gave all six golfers some problems, especially on the first nine holes. Louisburg, however, was able to adjust and shoot well on the back nine.

T.J. Svoboda chips his way onto the green during the Paola Invitational on Monday at Paola Country Club

“All the golfers at Paola were faced with stroke and distance and some soggy conditions,” Burns said. “Also, there were some pretty fast greens. We have been putting on slower greens by placing the ball a club length from the flight where it went out of bounds. You could tell with the difference of the scores as most golfers were shooting higher than normal.

“If you averaged out our scores, the team would be in the high 80’s under the new conditions. I was happy with their play.”

Brady Lambeth finished third on the Wildcat team with a 91, while Nathan Moore and T.J. Svoboda each shot a 92. Logan Glenn rounded out the team with a 93.

The Wildcats are hoping for better conditions and better scores Tuesday when they travel to the Osawatomie Invitational. Tee time is set for 1 p.m.

“We need to get back to the short game more this week and get confidence in a couple players’ driving and we should be ready to go for the Osawatomie tournament,” Burns said.