By Blake Colston
Sports Writer
Yukon golf coach Matthew Olmsted gave his team some unique motivation in advance of Wednesday’s Class 6A regional played at Ponca City Country Club.
If the Millers are able to qualify for the state tournament, Olmsted has promised them he’ll get a tattoo to commemorate their accomplishment.
“I’m going to get it on my ribs,” he said, adding that he hasn’t picked out a design yet. “I’m not an artist, but I’ll definitely get something so I can remember it forever.”
Olmsted is ready and willing to add the ink, but the Millers have some work to do first. They’re facing a loaded 14-team field that includes top-ranked Edmond North, No. 3 Stillwater, sixth-ranked Edmond Memorial, No. 8 Broken Arrow and No. 9 Norman.
YHS has to finish in the top 6 of the team standings to send their coach to the tattoo shop.
“We play in the hardest golf conference in the state and our region is even more difficult,” Olmsted said.
Yukon’s lineup for regionals will include Maximus Karpe, Bryce Bramlett, Dylan Snow, Trey Thomas and Teagan Johnson. Last week at the PC North tournament held at Lincoln East in Oklahoma City, those five combined to card the Millers’ best team score in the past two seasons. Yukon, led by a 72 from Johnson, placed fourth.
“We are 100% playing the best golf of the year right now and that’s definitely a positive,” Olmsted said.
YHS played at Ponca City during the regional preview in late-April and struggled collectively to keep the ball in the fairway. Though the course measures just 6,400 yards from the back tees, the tree-lined fairways are narrow and trouble is easy to find just a few yards off the short grass. So, sound strategy is key.
“The biggest thing for us is to be patient. I know they’re more than capable of putting up good scores,” Olmsted said. “If they heed my advice and only hit their driver on the three or four holes that require it, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
The regional schedule has been adjusted from a 36-hole event to a one-day, 18-hole format. Olmsted said that probably benefits the top teams, but that he has confidence Yukon can compete.
“It’s going to take something special, but I think we’re playing special golf,” he said.
If YHS misses the cut as a team, some or all of Yukon’s players could still make it to state. The top six individuals (including ties) not already on a qualifying team will make next week’s field at The Oaks Country Club in Tulsa.
Each player in the lineup has, at one time or another this season, shot a score that could be good enough to qualify. Karpe and Bramlett have each shot 75, Snow carded a 78 and Thomas has an 81. Johnson’s 72 last week was Yukon’s low-round of the season.
“I don’t know who it’ll be, but I fully expect to take at least two golfers, if not the entire team, to state,” Olmsted said.
See a full recap in Saturday’s edition of The Yukon Progress.
