CLASS A STATE GOLF
Alex Munson started day two of the state golf meet tied for 10th place. After shooting a 77 day one, his goal was to repeat that score on day two.
However, Mother Nature was going to make sure that wasn’t an easy feat. Light rain had fallen on and off throughout Wednesday morning. The rain continued to pick up shortly after Alex teed off. Add in the large crowd that again followed his foursome throughout the 18 holes, and Alex may not have started exactly as he hoped.
“Number one was really tough,” he said. “You could see all the people and all the people in the group behind us, too. I’m not saying that’s why I double bogeyed, but it’s tough. That’s nerves. And on my last chip on 18, I looked back and thought, ‘Oh, I’m not looking back at all those people.’ You have to get in the zone and forget everything.”
And get in the zone he did. After struggling on the first few holes as the rain picked up, Alex dug deep and came back with his best back nine score, ending day two with a 78 for a total score of 155, which put him in 13th place out of 88 golfers.
“Considering the conditions, it was pouring rain more than half the round, I’m more than happy with a 78 especially considering I went 1 over on the back nine,” he said. “I’ve struggled with the back 9. Last year I got a 48 on the back 9 and this year I got a 37. I couldn’t think of a better way to finish golf.”
Alex knew in order to complete his goal he had to block out all the distractions and focus on the game.
“Golf is a mental game,” he said. “That’s all there is to it. There is a lot of talent in swinging and stuff. But if you don’t have a good mental game it’s tough. With the rain, the greens are slower and softer. You have to take that into account for every shot. My front 9 score was horrible and I knew I needed to bring it. And that’s when it started downpouring on the back nine. I guess I play better in the rain. It was a shot by shot. It was a grind and that’s what golf is. You just have to fight through it.”
ALEX MUNSON finished 13th at state; Taylor took 58th. Photos / Tara Brandl
Alex was happy to be ending his high school career at state and tried to make sure he took the time to appreciate how he was ending it.
“This is definitely a top 10 in my life,” Alex said. “Especially alongside my dad, seeing him and going up and giving him a hug. Especially with him coaching me in basketball and in coaching me in golf my entire life. I was definitely taking it all in. I think it’s going to hit now that I’ve competed everything. But I couldn’t think of a better way to end it at state and shooting one of my best nine holes of the year with really tough course conditions.”
Alex will attend the University of Minnesota Morris this fall and will play both basketball and golf. The conference championship for U of M Morris is at Pebble Creek Golf Club, so Alex may be back looking to improve his scores yet again.
• After a frustrating first day, Taylor had one big goal in mind for day two of the tournament: do better than yesterday and shoot in the 90s. After a 107 Tuesday, Taylor met both those goals, taking an impressive 12 strokes off her day one score and ending day two with a 95.
She shot a 48 on the front nine and a 47 on the back. Her two-day total was 202, good for 58th place (her goal was to place somewhere in the 50s) out of 86 golfers.
“It felt a lot better than yesterday,” Taylor said. “I was a lot more confident because I was basically … there’s nothing to lose. I wanted to do a lot better and I did that. I think me being more confident and focused really helped me into these 18 holes. Like I said, nothing to lose, just do my best and play my game.”
While her two-day total wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for, she was excited to see improvement.
“I was very happy about my ending score today,” she said. “It was like sections, 10 strokes better. Now I just need to keep on improving and hopefully I’ll get both days to be good in the future. “
DAY 1
Alex and Taylor kicked off the 2025 Class A state golf tournament Tuesday full of anticipation and some nerves. After 18 holes on day one, they both had plans for improvement and focus for day 2, both looking to improve their scores.
Alex shot a 77 on the first day, with a pair of birdies on the front nine, leaving him in a 10-way tie for 10th place, five strokes off the pace. Despite some holes that didn’t go his way, he was happy with where things ended after day one.
“It felt good to get into it,” Alex said. “My grandpa and I worked on my driver. On my practice round, I couldn’t hit a drive. We got that figured out.”
The improvement shined on hole 9 when he drove the green from 330 yards for a birdie.
Alex had holes that gave him more trouble than he would have liked, including No. 4. After getting on the green in three on the par 5 hole and setting up an easy birdie put, he three putted it. He wanted a mulligan on that hole.
“That’s the shot I want back. But it was downhill a lot and the greens are really fast.”
Alex competed in the state tournament last year at Pebble Creek Golf Club and knew that hole 16 had given him some trouble last year resulting in a 10-stroke hole.
However, this year he pushed the drive on the tee and had to take an unplayable lie due to landing under a pine tree, resulting in a double bogey on the hole.
“I knew I needed to stay out of trouble,” Alex said about the course. “It’s a tough course.”
Despite the tough shots, Alex was happy with many parts of his game on day one.
“I was very satisfied with my up-and-down on 18,” Alex said. “I also felt like a did a good job of scrambling for pars, even with the fast greens.”
In addition to the tough course, the crowds are another source of added anxiety for the golfers. Alex felt like he did a good job blocking that added pressure out during his day-one round.
“It helps that they have to be 25 yards back,” Alex said. “But I’ve been golfing for a long time. I just remind myself it’s just me and a golf ball or it’s me and the golf course. I get into a rhythm and can block that part out.”
Taylor, a junior making her first state appearance, wasn’t as happy with her day one round and had a lot she wanted to focus on for day two. Taylor shot a 107 for 67th place after the first day.
“It was a rough day,” she said.
Taylor admitted that nerves were high, and it factored in when she had a tough hole.
“I started off not that bad,: Taylor said. “But I really struggled on holes four through six. One bad shot and it carried over into other shots. I need to work on forgetting the bad shots and just moving on. I am hoping to do better with that on day two.”
