EVERETT — After a season of mediocre golf a year ago, Austin Faux of Arlington High School dedicated the summer to improving his game.
With some lessons and a lot of practicing, Faux dropped a 24 handicap to a 5 in a matter of months. And on Monday afternoon, he used his newfound prowess to finish first in the rain-shorted Tom Dolan Memorial Invitational at Everett Golf and Country Club.
Faux, a junior, finished at 1-under-par for nine holes, one stroke better than Trevor Frisby of Meadowdale and Alex Park of St. George’s School in Vancouver, B.C. With the tournament using a shotgun start, each group played a different set of nine holes, so final placings were based on scores relative to par.
With 24 schools represented, and with scoring determined by the top four players of each squad, Snohomish won the team title with a cumulative 11-over total. Second place went to St. George’s School at 13 over, and Archbishop Murphy and Lake Stevens tied for third at 24 over.
Faux started his round on EG&CC’s downhill No. 4 hole, “and on the first tee I was really nervous,” he admitted. His mis-hit his second shot from the fairway of the long par 4, but recovered to drop his third shot from 150 yards just 2 feet from the pin for a par-saving tap-in putt.
He also parred No. 5 and then got his sole birdie on the sixth hole, a par 5. After a booming drive, Faux left his second shot just short of the green, and flopped a chip that trickled down a slope on the putting surface to about 5 feet from the flag. He sank the putt to drop to 1-under par and then had pars over the remaining six holes for his first tournament victory.
Faux shot in the 90s for two rounds of last year’s district tournament, closing a season when “I really wasn’t very good,” he said. “But I’m hoping this year that I can make my mark and next year I can do it as well, and then maybe I can get into a college for golf.”
Snohomish finished with four players in the top nine (plus ties) to claim the team title. The Panthers were led by Ben Gardner and Ethan Casto both at 2 over, Luke Kuna at 3 over, and Keegan Willis at 4 over.
“For the conditions and the weather, I was pleased with our consistency,” said Snohomish coach Joey Mutcheson. Given the region’s sporadic spring weather, “that’s part of the preparation for high school golf in Washington,” he added. “We try to work on that, and I thought the kids did really well.”
This was the 14th annual Dolan Invitational and the first time the tournament has been shortened by bad weather, though one was rescheduled due to rain a few years ago. It was hoped the field would get in a full 18 holes on Monday, but an early drizzle turned into a steady downpour midway through the round, prompting the event to be ended early.
“It was coming down pretty good,” Mutcheson said. “The greens had really started to puddle up in areas.”
Monday’s weather aside, he added, “this is a great event that Everett Golf and Country Club puts on. All the high school kids look forward to it. It’s just a really well-run tournament, and we appreciate Everett (G&CC) putting it on and the members there supporting it.”
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