PHS shares top honors with Kemmerer

The Powell Panthers tied with Kemmerer for top honors at the Thermpolis invitational as spring golf action continued last week. The Panthers carded a 336 to share top billing with Kemmerer.

Park County rival Cody was third with a 348. The Broncs were also the only other team in the eight-school field to finish within 30 strokes of the leaders.

Vilhelm Sandberg paced Powell with a round of 78. The score was good enough to tie him for runner-up honors individually.

“Vilhelm played very solidly again this week,” said Panther golf coach Troy Hildebrand. “He is a player that adapts well to tough conditions and he seems very comfortable this spring.”

Powell also received top-10 finishes from Bowen Prestwich and Brian Morse. Prestwich carded a round of 81 to place fourth. Morse was tied for sixth after coming back to the clubhouse with an 18-hole total of 83 strokes.

“Bowen kept it in the low 80s again this week,” Hildebrand said. “As he gets into the groove of playing this summer, I really expect him to come into the fall in top form. He’s a player that has always put a lot into his game during the off-season.”

Hildebrand noted that Morse battled through a rough start to steadily move up the standings.

“I think that really shows maturity in his game,” said Hildebrand. “He’s become much better at grinding out a respectable score when things are tough and he overcame a very poor start to turn in a solid round.”

Rounding out Powell’s scoring five were Cameron Nielson with a score of 94 and Colter Adolph with a round of 96.

“Cameron continues to score better each week,” Hildebrand said. “The 94 this week is a career low tournament for him. If he puts the time in this summer, he’ll have a great chance to be a contributor for us next fall. Colter is still struggling to piece everything together this spring, but has played enough good golf in the past to work his way back to where he is used to being.”

The Panthers are scheduled to hold their home invitational this Friday, starting at 10 a.m.

“It will be nice to host a tournament so that we can get most of the rest of our players some tournament experience this spring,” said Hildebrand. “It will be a good opportunity to get a handful of players their first official tournament rounds, which is always nice to be able to do at home.”