It was cold and rain fell for a while, but the Manitou Springs girls golf team completed action at the TCA Invite at Cherokee Ridge on March 29.
It came after the Mustangs practiced for just one day after taking last week off for spring break. Play was expected to be a bit rough, but overall the team had to start somewhere.
There was certainly some good that came out of the day. Tyler Parratt hit a solid 4-iron off the tee on No. 3 before pitched off the green just left and two-putted for par. From there on out, she limited her damage to mostly bogeys and ended the day shooting a 30-over-par 104 to finish 11th.
But as Parratt walked up that fairway, she couldn’t help but look at the positives of how the round was unfolding.
“I’m playing so much better than I did in my first tournament last year,” she said.
That’s an important note to keep in mind as she has goals of dropping her score throughout the season and getting back to the Class 3A state tournament.
Cherokee Ridge is a bit of a friendly course, a nine-hole track that the girls loop twice, and it gave them a good chance to get in some competition while truly getting a better feel for where their game is.
“That’s why we want to play in this early of a tournament,” coach Ken Vecchio said. “Coming off spring break, the girls didn’t play much at all, so this gives them a chance to get a tournament under their feet before they go out and start playing at these 18-hole courses starting next week.”
The overall results don’t mesh with what any team would hope for, but this wasn’t a tournament where the Mustangs’ goal was to go out and win. Instead, it was meant to serve as a measuring stick for where improvements need to be made through the course of the season.
“I definitely could’ve done better and there are some things I need to work on,” Parratt said. “Looking at the team scores, there are things they need to work on as well.”
Ivory Johnson-Ragan and Anna Apotheker also competed at the Invite and know that they have room to grow as golfers this season. But that’s what the first tournament is for. A true measurement of their development will happen at the end of the season.