Shawnee Mission East golfer leads Sunflower League tournament after first round
Shawnee Mission East High School senior golfer Andy Spencer has been searching for his swing.
Over the past couple of weeks of practice, he hadn’t been striking the ball well. His swing felt rushed. The results, he says, grew frustrating.
But he returned to his comfort zone on Monday.
Spencer opened his defense of the Sunflower League championship — determined by a series of three tournaments — by winning the Shawnee Mission Northwest Invitational on Monday at the Lake Quivira Country Club.
He fired an even-par 70.
“I feel like I calmed down a little bit today. I think I had just been pressing a little bit,” Spencer said. “I was getting too mad at myself when I hit a bad shot. It’s early in the season, so there are some kinks to work out. I have to know that if I stay patient, it will work out.”
Spencer edged Shawnee Mission Northwest senior Blake Allen by one stroke, and he will carry that lead into the second leg of the Sunflower League championship, scheduled for May 9 at Falcon Ridge Golf Course. The third and final round will be played two days later at Eagle Bend Golf Course.
Spencer won the series of tournaments last season, the precursor to his Kansas Class 6A state championship. The success last season has added some pressure this spring, he admits.
“Golf is such a mental game that you can’t get caught up in trying to match everything from last year,” he said. “I think I’m trying (to improve) on the mental side of things, taking a more conservative route sometimes and not always wanting to hit (my) driver. I just have to stay focused on every shot.”
He applied that Monday, he said, when he hit 16 greens in regulation.
Allen had a good day, too, as did his teammates. SM Northwest compiled a team score of 314 to finish second in the tournament, six strokes behind Lawrence Free State. Shawnee Mission East (317) was third.
Allen finds himself in a familiar spot — chasing Spencer. He finished runner-up to Spencer in the Sunflower League title race last season.
“I love the competition. He’s a great competitor, so I really like playing with him,” said Allen, who made three birdies on Monday. “Last year, I had a rough last round, and I let the first two rounds go to waste. I just have to go out there and continue hitting the ball like I am, but eliminate a couple of the three-putts I had today.”
SM Northwest freshman Joe Bultman and St. James Academy’s Frankie Failoni each shot a 77. Bultman won the scorecard tiebreaker to slide into seventh place. Failoni was eighth. Olathe East golfer Connor Churchill carded a 78 to place 10th.
This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission East golfer leads Sunflower League tournament after first round."