Plains golfer wins T-Falls tournament

A Plains senior used a miraculous shot on the turn to win the Thompson Falls Invitational Saturday.

Tanner Colombo sank a 122-yard chip shot on the 324-yard ninth hole at River’s Bend Golf Course for an eagle and went on to win the individual title by three strokes. “I was really surprised when it went in,” Colombo said. He said it was his first eagle in a tournament.

Colombo’s 122-yard pitching wedge shot capped a 39-stroke first round. Colombo would take two strokes off the score in the second round and went into the clubhouse with a 76 to take home the individual title. Colombo’s heroics weren’t enough to give the Horsemen the team title and the Thompson Falls Bluehawks edged them out.

The five Bluehawks combined for a team score of 331, three less than Plains’ 334. After losing to Deer Lodge last year, Thompson Falls coach Lance Pavlik said it was nice to win their own tournament again, but he thinks his team could’ve shot better.

“It was good enough to win today, but it’s not what the boys are capable of, especially on their home course,” he said. “We dodged a bullet,” he added.

Leading the charge for the Bluehawks was Brandon Damaskos. The senior shot a 79 to finish in second place. “It’s not my best, but I’m still pretty happy,” Damaskos said. He said he struggled on all aspects of his game and made some stupid mistakes, which kept him away from victory. Thompson Falls senior Erik Gilbert finished in third with an 81.

Bluehawk RT Brown said he struggled with “anything and everything,” but still managed to shoot an 84 for a tie for fourth place with Horseman Dusty Burgess. The Mosher twins Cody and Jesse both shot an 87 to tie for eighth place.

Horsemen Ben Holland and Ian Stokes also shot an 87 to finish in a four-way tie for eighth place. Stokes’ 87 was his best score all year. He said him and Plains’ coach Terri Kendall have really been working on his driving and it’s starting to show. He said he would like to be in the low 80s by the end of the year.

Burgess’ 84 came just two days after he shot a 77 to finish third at the Seeley Invitational. On Saturday, Burgess said he had a lot trouble around the greens. “I just couldn’t get a feel for my chipping,” he said. Bryce Benson rounded out the Plains scorecard with a 92.

Kendall said she was pleased with her team efforts. “They did great,” she said. Kendall said her team easily could have shaved off three strokes from their games to win the team title. She said her team showed a lot of improvement from last year’s tournament, where they struggled with the small, fast greens. “Last year the greens really ate us up, but this year they weren’t as mean to us,” she said.

Thompson Falls’ Emily LaFriniere shot a 114 to finish in fourth place in the girls individual results. LaFriniere’s 114 was closely followed by Emily Brown’s 118. SangHee Lee shot a 123 and Ciara Normandeau shot a 127. Tarah Wakefield finished with a 147.

Nine teams with 51 varsity golfers competed in the tournament. Loyola finished in first in the girls team results with a combined scored of 424. Thompson Falls finished in second with a 481 and Summit finished in third with a 545. Plains and Thompson Falls will travel to the Trestle Creek Golf Course for the St. Regis Invitational Thursday.