Bruins on pace for title

By Jeff Kolpack

June 06, 2005 at 11:00 PM

The warm and sunny weather was about the only thing foreign to the North Dakota Class A state boys golf tournament on Monday. As usual, it's Fargo South in the lead and everybody else in a battle for second place.

The Bruins had five players between 73 and 77 and shot a 296 team score Monday at the Fargo Country Club. That leads Minot by 13 shots heading into today's final round.

"Once you get around nine or 10 ahead, they have to help you," said Minot head coach Chipper Farrell. "You can't win. They have six solid players so you know they're not going to collapse, especially at home."

Senior Matt Rubis' 73 led the Bruins, who have won five of the last six state titles. That trails first day individual leader Grant Corbett of Minot by one stroke, but the Bruins had more behind Rubis than the Magicians had behind Corbett.

Juniors Adam Kotchian and Erick Gault each carded 74s on a day when wind and cool temperatures were not factors - something the players weren't used to.

"It's nice not having to club up and it was nice not to worry about the winds," Kotchian said.

That's not to say South's round was flawless. Rubis hit only one green in regulation on the front nine but still managed a 37. Head coach Steve Kennedy said sophomore Tom Hoge struggled with his swing throughout the day, but still got a 75.

"It was a pretty consistent day for the boys," Kennedy said. "That's the way we've been all year. Any one of these guys can take it low."

The Bruins made their move after the front nine. With the top four players counting toward the team score, South had a three-shot lead on Minot at that point.

But the Bruins went just 2 over on their final nine holes. Meanwhile, Minot's top four players went 12-over.

"Fargo South just played real well on the second nine," Farrell said. "There is the difference."

It also was the difference in South besting the 300 mark, considered the mark of excellence for a high school golf team.

"It's not so much that the rest of us are not playing well, we're shooting reasonable scores and they're under 300," Farrell said. "It's very difficult."

For results, see Scoreboard on Page D2.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546

By Jeff Kolpack

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough" and "Covid Kids." He is the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.