Simmons battles through rain-soaked weather at JGAC tournament
May 26, 2018
WORLAND - Worland youth golfer Karsten Simmons finished second in the 16-19 age division at the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado tournament at Pelican Lakes Golf Club in Windsor, Colorado, on May 12-13.
Even with poor weather Simmons shot an 81 for the first round and 76 in the second for a 137 total.
"The course conditions were a bit rough and the weather was a major impact on all of the scores," said Karsten's father, Randy Simmons. "Lots of wind, rain and aerated greens kept the scores all up. This was a great tournament to test the ability of all the players being able to fight through these conditions."
Continued Simmons, "A lot of the times the kids were soaking wet and could not even hold onto the golf club. There was just no way to stay dry in this event. Lots of golfers suffered lost ball conditions in hazards with water all over the place on this course. If you hit a ball into the rough, it was generally lost here."
Finishing second, while disappointing for Simmons was not that bad considering the 14-year-old went toe-to-toe with the winner of the tournament Jack Hastings of Fort Collins, Colo. Hastings, a 19-year-old, signed to play college golf at California Lutheran University.
To his credit, Simmons did shoot the lowest score of the second round at 76.
Next for Simmons will be more qualifying tournaments for the Optimist Junior Championship in Florida this summer.