Golf team strong at the top

By: 
Jason Ferguson
When the Custer High School golf team takes to the course this fall, it will do so behind the talent of three golfers who between them have taken multiple trips to the state golf tournament.
After that? Well, there are some questions.
The team returns seniors Dustyn Fish (fourth at regions a year ago), Gunner Prior (ninth) and freshman Ryder Bailey from last year’s region championship team, but head coach Paul Kelley said how good the team does this year will be largely dependent on the team’s fourth and fifth varsity golfers, which as of now figures to be juniors Matthew Merrill and Ethan Lappe.
“(The top three) can play. They’ve been to state numerous times,” Kelley said. “They know what it takes to get there. It’s just getting these younger kids that experience.”
Kelley said the team has a yearly goal of qualifying a team for state, and to do that, the last two varsity golfers will have to post strong enough scores to vault the Wildcats toward the top half of the region.
“For us it’s always been what can we do as a team? This might be one of the tougher years we’ve had to [qualify for state],” he said.
As for the top three, Bailey had a particularly active summer, participating in the Black Hills junior tour. And while the seniors weren’t quite as active, Kelley said he already knows what they bring to the table.
“They are good golfers,” he said. “I’m not overly concerned about them.”
In the conference race, Kelley said it should once again be the Spearfish Spartans at the top of the heap, as their numbers enable them to field not only a top varsity team, but a junior varsity team that could finish at the top of the conference. Region play is a bit more of an unknown, as many teams lost some top golfers.
“I think it’s a pretty evenly-matched region,” Kelley said. “It’s just kind of a weird year. We don’t know where anybody stands, who is playing or who is doing what?”
One plus for the Wildcats this year is the fact the state meet will be played at a golf course—Southern Hills Golf Course in Hot Springs—the Wildcats are familiar with and enjoy playing.
“It’s fun to compete as a team when you get to the state meet rather than have a couple of individuals get there,” Kelley said. “I hope we can develop that fourth and fifth golfer so we can get to state. We’ll give it a shot.”
Regardless of how the season goes, Kelley said he and the players are just thankful to compete in high school sports again in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think our kids are excited to get back to a sense of normalcy,” he said.

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