Chaska golf: A mixed bag so far

Save those on the PGA Tour, most golfers would be thrilled with an 18-hole round that included six birdies and an eagle. But when your final score for that day only winds up being 1 under par and you've got the bad taste in your mouth of losing to a conference opponent three times by a combined two strokes, all of a sudden it's not so great.

That's Chaska's golf season so far in a nutshell.

"Just a couple of holes can screw up a round," Hawks junior Alex Robb said. "It's like we're always even [with other teams] through 13 [holes] and we don't finish well. Or we started bad. It's frustrating."

Though Chaska held the state's second-best team scoring average (304.3) among Class 3A schools heading into this week, the Hawks have yet to top Eden Prairie in a conference match. In those three events, Chaska has lost by a stroke twice and on the third tiebreak in the other.

Said junior John Pavelko, "Potential means absolutely zero. We've been making a lot of birdies, but we have to dial down the high numbers."

This is a Chaska team that, despite having Eden Prairie and state No. 1 Mankato West in its section, believes it has what it takes to get to the Class 3A tournament.

"I'd be lying if I said I like being in second place," Chaska coach Jeff Ryd- land said. "But the focus is there. They've been more motivated to work after these matches."

While not making excuses, Rydland said the spring's poor weather has probably affected his team to some degree. After initial gatherings to work on golf etiquette and ground rules and make team cuts, Rydland has not attended an official team practice. Any open days have been spent playing for team position or making up matches.

"It's kind of felt like being a part of a traveling golf league," he said.

Still, Rydland has been satisfied with what he's seen so far. And to some extent surprised.

Brad Reierson, the Hawks' No. 1 golfer the past three seasons, graduated after last year.

That left Rydland with a feeling of emptiness at the top. He was confident he would have enough golfers to be a solid team this year. But a contender?

"The whole offseason I was wondering how you replace a player like that," he said. "I don't think you can. [Reierson] was so solid, so consistent."

But sure enough, Pavelko and Robb showed up this spring in fine fashion, fresh off out-of-season tournaments yielding low rounds.

"I thought we'd have no number one, and it turns out we have two number ones," Rydland said.

At this, Rydland let out a laugh that one could interpret as relief or nervousness.

True, the play of Pavelko and Robb at the top has been welcomed. But from there, relatively untested juniors, sophomores and an eighth-grader generally fill out Chaska's lineup.

Pressure-filled rounds await as the team gets deeper into the season. Hopefully before it really matters -- May 22 in the first round of sections at Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake -- the Hawks will have already finished out a solid card.

"Sooner or later they'll get a good one turned in to the clubhouse," Ryd- land said. "And they'll roll from there."

Brian Stensaas • 612-673-4127