Thompson Falls hosts golf tournament

THOMPSON FALLS – The Thompson Falls Invitational went down to the wire on Saturday, May 3, ending in a sweep of the boys’ and girls’ tournaments by Loyola Sacred Heart at River’s Bend Golf Course.

The boys of Loyola Sacred Heart High School of Missoula used a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole by Michael Hoffman to edge the hosts of the tournament, the Bluehawks of Thompson Falls.   

The Loyola boys finished with a final score of 324, ahead of the Thompson Falls boys who compiled a team score of 327, to end an impressive day on the links. 

In the girls tournament Loyola coasted to a comfortable victory posting a team score of 416, with runner-up Ronan shooting a 459. 

On the individual side of the tournament, the boy’s competition had to include a play-off hole and a card tiebreaker before the tournament officially came to a close. 

Tommy Tirrell of Loyola and Micah Nicholas of Seeley-Swan High School both finished the 18-hole competition with strong rounds of 75. In the playoff Tirrell was able to triumph, rounding out an impressive day for the Loyola golf team. 

In turn, third and fourth place was not awarded until a card tiebreaker enabled Caleb Bates of Thompson Falls to finish ahead of Jared Greer of Loyola. Both golfers finished their round with a 76, only one stroke behind Tirrell and Nicholas, the first and second place finishers. 

Loyola dominated the individual girl’s tournament throughout the day with the top three scores belonging to the ladies from Missoula. 

Jade LaDeaux of Plains nearly broke up Loyola’s stranglehold over the rest of the field, finishing in fourth place with a score of 102, one stroke behind the third place golfer from Loyola, Julia Dowing. Abby Croft from the Lady Hawks of Thompson Falls finished close behind LaDeaux, taking fifth with a final round of 103. 

The boys of Thompson Falls also had a very solid performance on the leaderboard as William Gallivan took fifth place with a score of 79, while Dalton Hooten and Jake Smith rounded out the top finishers shooting an 86 finishing with a share of 8th place with Brian Swanson of Loyola, who shot an identical round. 

Cole Benson shot the low score for the Plains boys finishing the course with a 94 on the day, helping Plains finish in front of Eureka and place sixth with a team score of 397.

The rain held off for most of the day but towards the end of the tournament inclement weather was experienced adding to the challenge of an already difficult course. 

“The course played tough, and the last 20-30 minutes we had some pretty good rain, but the kids all played very well,” Head Coach Rich Magera of Plains said. 

Despite the precipitation towards the end of the round, the weather was a little warmer than the conditions experienced last week in Plains, allowing the golfers to shed their jackets and enjoy the links or more traditional attire. 

The Plains team will head to the Seeley-Swan Invitational on Tuesday, while Thompson Falls will have its next meet on Thursday in St. Regis.