Adam Papin/MDN Minot’s Brock Jones watches as Minot North’s Walter Langhans lines up a putt at Souris Valley Golf Course last month. Both are representing their schools at the NDHSAA Class A State Golf Tournament.

DICKINSON – After one day of the NDHSAA Class A Golf Tournament at Heart River Golf Course, Bennet Bartsch finds himself tied for sixth place overall after shooting a 1-over 73. Unfortunately for Minot, Bartsch was the only one able to break 80, and the Magi find themselves near the bottom of the leaderboard heading into today’s final round.

Bartsch got off to a solid start to the tournament, shooting a 3-under 33 on the front nine, fueled by birdies on holes 1, 2, 4, and 9. His lone bogey on the front nine occurred on the 195-yard par-3 6th hole. The back nine was a different story. Bartsch bogeyed five of the first seven holes before scoring a birdie on the 18th to record a 40 coming in.

Kasen Rostad (82) posted some uncharacteristically high scores on individual holes, carding three double-bogeys and a triple-bogey to offset what was an otherwise solid day.

A quintuple bogey 9 on the par-4 7th hole doomed Brock Jones’ front-nine. After carding a 44 on the front, he was able to rebound for a 3-over 39 on the back to finish relatively strong on his way to posting an 83.

A stretch of five holes proved especially problematic for Tyler Bast. Bast double-bogeyed the 11th hole, followed by a triple-bogey on the 12th. After back-to-back pars on holes 13 and 14, he triple bogeyed the par-3 15th. That stretch of 8-over par played a huge part in him carding an 87 for the day.

Parker Argent showed significant improvement as the day went on. After starting with a 47 going out, he was able to shave six strokes off his front-nine score on the back, carding a 41 coming in. That was good enough for an 88 on the day.

Easton Bradley shot a 44 on the front and a 47 on the back, for a 91.

The Magi currently find themselves in a tie for eighth-place with West Fargo, posting a team score of 325. However, West Fargo’s fifth-lowest score, an 87 by Brock Wilson, was one stroke better than Minot’s Parker Argent, who shot an 88. Therefore, the Packers held the tiebreaker over the Magi.

Minot North’s Walter Langhans started on the 10th hole and shot a 44 on the back nine, before settling down for a 40 on the front, which was good enough for a round of 84. Competing as an individual, he currently stands tied for 50th place.

No one was able to keep pace with West Fargo Sheyenne, who posted a 4-under 284 behind Nate Peyerl’s low round of 69. Teammates Andrew Wilhelm (71), Aiden Knodel (72) and Quinn Breidenbach (72) all shot even par or better to give the Mustangs a commanding 15-stroke lead over second-place Grand Forks Red River, who finished with a team score of 299.

Century and Jamestown finished as the top West teams and are tied for third place overall at 315.

Despite the rough start, Minot only stands ten shots back of both Century and Jamestown. Given some of the rounds the Magi have put together earlier in the year, including back-to-back 300s, it’s not without reason to think a solid round by Minot today could vault them up the team standings.

The top four scores on each team count towards the final score. If there is a tie between two teams, each team’s fifth-lowest score is used as a tiebreaker.

Individual scores: Minot – Bennett Bartsch, 33-40 – 73. Kasen Rostad, 41-41 – 82. Brock Jones, 44-39 – 83. Tyler Bast, 42-45 – 87. Parker Argent, 47-41 – 88. Easton Bradley, 44-47 – 91. Minot North – Walter Langhans, 44-40 – 84.

Team scores: West Fargo Sheyenne (284), Grand Forks Red River (299), Century (315), Jamestown (315), Fargo North (318), Fargo Davies (320), Legacy (324), West Fargo (325), Minot (325), Fargo South (328), St. Mary’s (332) and Bismarck (337).

Tee times for today’s final round are based off of performance during the first round, with the top performers teeing off later in the day. Minot’s tee times for today are: (teeing off on the 10th hole) Easton Bradley – 8:38 a.m. Parker Argent – 9:02 a.m. Tyler Bast – 9:10 a.m. Kasen Rostad – 9:42 a.m. Brock Jones – 9:50 a.m. (Teeing off on the 1st hole) Bennet Bartsch – 9:50 a.m. Minot North (teeing off on the 10th hole) – Walter Langhans – 9:42 a.m.