SIDNEY — Polson’s Hunter Emerson entered Saturday a stroke back of the leaders at the Class A state golf tournament at the Sidney Country Club. He left as a state champion.
Emerson leads pack to victory
Emerson was clutch to win state medalist honors for the boys, shooting in the low 70s on both days. Emerson notched a hole-in-one en route to a first-day score of 71. On the second-day he hit long putts on holes 16 and 17, scoring a par and a birdie to card a 73 for an evenpar 144.
“No other way to say it, Hunter just put the boys on his back for two days and got us to victory,” Milton said. “Hunter has always been a fantastic ball striker, but he won the individual championship on the back of his putter and guts.”
Emerson excelled in tough conditions, with 20-30 miles per hour winds that could knock quite a bit of distance off shots. On the first day, during the most difficult part of Sidney’s course, holes four through six, the Polson golfer collected a par, hole-in-one and birdie to move Polson from being tied with Laurel to eight strokes up.
“The conditions on day two were extremely difficult with the wind and to play that well in the wind is incredible,” Milton said. “His contribution at the end of day one and the hole-in-one on the back end of his round can not be ignored. He played the toughest stretch of the golf course in three under par. His finish is what allowed us to have the cushion over Laurel going into day two.”
Polson would end up with a team score of 612 strokes, three ahead of second-place Laurel.
Emerson, who made a hole-in-one during the first round on Friday, shot a second-round 73 through a blustery Round 2, which was good enough for a two-day total of 144 to win the boys individual title by one stroke over Corvallis’ Brady Powell.