Junior Drew Boyd shot a 73 to lead the Ankeny boys’ golf team to a fifth-place finish in the Ankeny Invitational on Wednesday at Otter Creek Golf Course. He tied with five other golfers for ninth place as an individual.
Boyd leads the Hawks with a 38.0 average for nine holes. He carded a season-best 72 in the Jesse Peck Invitational on Aug. 19 at Briarwood Golf Club.
Here is some inside info on Boyd:
How do you think you played on Wednesday?
I was not necessarily happy with my round. I definitely could’ve played better with the amount of fairways and greens that I hit. I had 16 pars and two bogeys; sometimes birdies don’t drop.
How much of an advantage was it for you and your teammates to play on your home course?
Based on our scores, we played like we’ve never been there before. Otter Creek is an easy course whether it’s our home meet or not. We need to play better because how we have played the last couple tournaments we won’t be going anywhere in October.
I know the Briarwood course had to deal with some flooding issues earlier after we had some heavy rains in August. Is the Otter Creek course in pretty good shape right now?
Otter is in better shape than those couple holes at Briarwood, but there are a couple spots that are burnt out from the flooding and heat.
This was the second straight day that you played a meet in some sweltering conditions. How did you deal with the heat?
Both days combined I probably drank 25 bottles of water. The Fort Dodge meet wasn’t as bad though because there are lots of trees to stand under for shade. At Otter, the wind definitely helped with the heat because there is much less shade out there.
Did you play a lot this summer to prepare for the season?
Yes, I played as much as I could this summer. My dad forgot to sign me up for summer tournaments with the Iowa PGA so I couldn’t get into any of those events, but I played probably 18-36 holes a day at Ankeny Golf and Country Club with some of my teammates and other kids like Max Ledyard from Dowling Catholic.
You have posted your team’s lowest score at four of the five meets thus far. What has been the key to your success?
Like my coach says, eliminating the big numbers. I have had one 7 all year and that’s the only time I shot in the 80s, so containing bad holes helps a lot. Boring golf is good golf. I don’t normally attack; I try to take my pars and move on. I haven’t had more than two birdies in any of my tournaments, and that hasn’t really changed much. Also, I think my team will bounce back. Drake Shadwick will start to play better; he is a very good teammate and leader. I have seen him play some good golf, and I know he can go low.
Your team did not have any returning varsity regulars this year. Did you expect to become a leader for this squad?
Like I just mentioned, I believe Drake is more so the leader on the team. We have both improved significantly this year so I wasn’t very surprised when we were the top two.
Your team will face Johnston and Southeast Polk in a triangular meet on Thursday at Copper Creek, and you’ll also head to that course on Sept. 23 for the Southeast Polk Invitational and on Sept. 30 for the CIML Conference meet. Do you like that course, and do you think you’ll benefit from seeing it multiple times before the conference meet?
I played Copper two times last year and shot low 80s both times. The course itself isn’t too hard; it’s more so the greens. If I can control my putting and stay in the fairway, I will be happy with my results.
What are your goals for the rest of the season?
My main goal is to eliminate three-putts and stay below 80, which might be challenging at courses like Veenker and Copper.
Do you know anything about the course at the Davenport Country Club, which will host the Class 4A state meet on Oct. 12-13?
I do not know anything about the Davenport course. I’ve never played it or heard of it.
Do you have any big plans for Labor Day?
I do not have any plans unless I go play Copper for a practice round since I haven’t been there in a while.