Cougars girls golf shows strong at matches

The Niwot girls golf team is working hard out on the green as they have been playing multiple matches each week.

Recently, the Cougars had a week with one tough match and one strong performance when they came in second against a number of other schools. On Tuesday, April 12, Niwot competed in a tournament in Thornton, where they were short one player and navigating a difficult course.

“Down there we were without Claire [McPeak], who is our number one, but we were able to take four other girls,” Head Coach Dylan Hollingsworth said of Tuesday’s match. “It was a really good experience for them, it was a difficult course. We kind of treated it as an opportunity to get out and play something different—challenge ourselves.”

Hollingsworth knew it was a difficult course, and although the team didn’t come out on top he was satisfied with how they played.

“I was proud of the girls,” he said. “I thought they played well and they played a difficult course. When you do that and it’s something you haven’t seen before, you [have] to figure it out.”

He went on to explain that the more difficult part of the match was that the girls were playing different shots, which Hollingsworth said was a good learning experience. The team used the match as a practice for its league match the next day.

The Cougars played a league match on Wednesday, April 13 in Loveland, against other area schools. Niwot had a good day coming in second place, even though Hollingsworth said they had a shot at winning it all.

“We ended up finishing second,” he said. “We thought we had a shot at beating Greeley, who ended up winning it, but we only took four girls. You get to take five but we had one of the girls drop out last minute.”

The team’s top player, McPeak, played a strong match. “Claire ended up finishing second,” Hollingsworth said. “She was two strokes off of the win and ended up at an 83 for the day. Then we had two other girls finish in the top ten. Rosie Setter finished in fifth and Keena Strope finished in ninth.”

Although Hollingsworth was proud of how the whole team played that day, he said Strope stuck out to him the most. Playing strong golf throughout the first part of the match and last, it was the middle Hollingsworth said she needs to work on.

“I was especially happy with Keena Strope,” Hollingsworth said. “She played really well out of the gate. She was one over through the first seven holes, so she played pretty much par golf through the first seven holes. Then she let things slip a little bit, but she really finished out pretty strong.”

Not only does Hollingsworth think Strope has to improve her game, but the team as a whole does as well. “As a team one of the things we have to improve on is our putting and chipping,” Hollingsworth explained. “We’re giving up way too many strokes in situations where we shouldn’t be. The hard thing right now is we don’t have a lot of practice time.”

Overall, Hollingsworth said the girls are happy and confident with where they’re at, and know what they need to work on going into their upcoming meets. Hollingsworth’s eyes are now focused on who will be going to regionals, which is only a few weeks away.

“The girls have been in good spirits. We’re going to try to rotate some other girls in the next couple and try to secure that fourth and fifth spot, so we know who we’re going to have going into regionals.”

The Cougars tee off next on Wednesday, April 20 at Indian Peaks at 1 p.m.