Low seeds take care of business in Junior 13-15 opening round

By Jared Rubado

Alexandria

Echo Press

Monday’s opening match-play round in the Junior 13-15 Division is setting up clashes between the low seeds left in the eight-player field on Wednesday morning.

Carson Boe, Bennett Olsen and Andrew Ballou advanced in quick fashion during their opening matches. Lunden Esterline, Charlie Moen, McKenzee Sullivan, Carver Larson and Chase Triebenbach also clinched spots in the quarterfinal round.

Here’s how the round of 16 played out on Monday afternoon.

Boe def.

Horstman, 5-4

Top-seeded Carson Boe of Cottonwood kept pace with his lowscore qualifying round with a 1-over-par, 5-4 win over 16-seed Sam Horstman.

Boe made birdies on Nos. 3 and 6 on the front nine to take a threehole advantage to the turn. His lone blunder on the front nine was a double bogey on No. 9. Horstman’s bogey pulled him back within three, but Boe made par on four of the last five holes to secure the win.

Esterline def.

Hanson, 2-up Lunden Esterline’s two-under-par back nine was enough to pull out a win over ninth-seeded Charlie Hanson.

After nine holes, eighth-seeded Elsterline trailed by one hole after three bogeys. Hanson birdied No. 6 before making par on No. 8 to take a one-hole lead at the turn.

In most rounds, a 1-over-par back nine with a one-hole lead would be enough to beat your opponent in match play, but Esterline was near perfect. Back-toback birdies on Nos. 12 and 13, along with seven pars, completed the comeback to beat Hanson.

Hanson birdied No. 14 to square the match, but back-to-back bogeys on the last two holes sealed his fate.

Ballou def. Crosby, 8-6 Fourth-seeded Andrew Ballou didn’t birdie a hole in his opening round matchup against 13th-seeded Adam Crosby. But he didn’t need one. Ballou picked up an 8-6 win at four-overpar in 12 holes. He made par on nine of the holes he played while Crosby parred Nos. 1, 2, 9 and 10. Ballou will take on fifth-seeded Charlie Moen on Wednesday morning.

C. Moen def.

Thornburg, 4-3

Charlie Moen overcame a shaky start to knock off 12th-seeded Will Thornburg 4-3.

Back-to-back bogeys to start the round put Moen down by a hole. After a bogey to square the match on No. 4, Moen birdied No. 5 to take his first lead of the tournament.

Trailing by two at the turn, Thornburg made bogey on No. 10 to pull within one. But a par and a birdie from Moen on the next two holes increased his lead to three. Moen would par the final three played holes to advance.

Larson def.

Scholl, 3-2

Second-seeded Carver Larson took care of business in his match against 15th-seeded Blake Scholl.

Larson went up by three in the first three holes with a birdie on No. 12. But three consecutive birdies from Scholl erased Larson’s early lead. Larson would birdie No. 18 to take a one-hole lead to the turn.

Larson’s back-toback pars to start the front nine regained his

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