Instead of the forecasted rainy, windy conditions, the golfers were greeted with still winds and mid-50’s temperature — a perfect day for scoring on a course that will surrender some low numbers.

Many players took advantage of the conditions to record good scores, including Marshalltown senior JD Pollard, who shot a 2-under-par 69 to finish the first day in a tie for third place, four strokes behind Bettendorf’s Matthew Garside who leads with a 6-under 65.

Despite his score, Pollard said he could have been even lower had things gone his way.

“I feel alright about [my score] but I left a lot of putts out there that I could have made,” Pollard said. “I was hitting the ball well but when you get inside 10 feet and two-putt every hole, you know you’re going to make those pars but I wish those birdies would have fell on the front nine. Still, nothing to complain about at 2-under.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown junior Mason Reid hits a chip shot onto the par-3 12th hole at Brown Deer Golf Club during the first day of the Iowa High School Boys State Golf Tournament on Friday.

The front nine at Brown Deer is known as the easier scoring nine, with Garside going 2-under on that nine to boost his score, but Pollard did most of his damage on the more difficult back nine.

Bobcat head coach Lucas Johnson said Pollard did well to take advantage of some pin placements with good tee shots.

“He played very well today, from tee to green he was hitting it very close,” Johnson said. “I think he had a lot of birdie looks today, I think he probably could have been right down there with the lead if he got a few more six- and seven-footers to drop. That’s all you can do is put yourself in position, putting boils down to picking your line and trust it. The fact that he’s playing so well, I expect him to come out tomorrow and keep firing at the pins and to be aggressive.”

While Pollard is in a good position to defend Marshalltown’s individual championship from last season, the Bobcats as a team sit in a tie for 6th place with a score of 305 after the first day.

Junior Cole Davis and freshman Grant Greazel each shot a 78 for the next-best scores, then freshman Colin Schmit was the fourth score with an 80. Mason Reid and Brent Johnson followed closely behind, however, as each finished with an 81.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“I am really pleased with the way our guys played, one-through-six,” Johnson said. “The fact that our highest score was an 81, this is by far the best meet that we’ve had this season from a one-through-six perspective. Especially to do it on the state tournament, from that point of view I am really proud of the way our guys played. That consistency is what we’ve talked about, to have that many scores there we didn’t necessarily have to put the same kind of pressure on four kids to put up a good score because everybody kept themselves in the mix today.”

Waukee currently leads in the team standings with a 289, but Pleasant Valley in second place is only nine strokes ahead of the Bobcats with a 296. Third place is even closer, with Johnston currently sitting in bronze with a 302, and Johnson said his guys are by no means out of the running.

“I told the guys after the round that this is the first half of a game, so you have to approach it as we had a first half that kept us in the conversation,” he said. “We are right in there in the mix with a lot of the top schools in the state, so from that perspective I think we are coming back tomorrow knowing that a much better score is still a possibility.”

Davis in particular is a golfer who could see a dramatic drop on day two, considering he finished as the state runner-up a year ago. Davis was 4-over after his first nine holes but made three-straight birdies to bring himself back to 1-over with six holes left. Unfortunately disaster struck on his final six holes, as he had three-straight bogeys then finished his final two holes with a bogey and double bogey, but Johnson said Davis definitely can get back in the mix.

“This is a course that players can go super low on, you saw that today with the kid from Bettendorf. There’s just a lot of birdie holes, especially on the front nine,” Johnson said. “We had kids on our squad ripping off two or three birdies in a row, and that’s the kind of scoring you can do if you are precise with your wedges.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“That score was about as high as Cole could have gone today,” Johnson continued. “He made that turn at 1-over with six holes left to play, so I know he is disappointed in those closing holes but he ran together a string of three birdies in a row that put him right back where he wanted to be. If he comes out tomorrow with the right mindset and stays patient we know he can go low and we can leapfrog a few teams on that leaderboard.”

While Davis struggled a bit on the first day of his second state tournament, freshmen Greazel and Schmit each handled their first state tournament well to provide counting scores.

“For Grant and Colin to hold it together as well as they did, I couldn’t be more proud of the way our freshmen played on a day like today,” he said.

The conditions are supposed to be a little sloppier when play resumes this morning at 9 a.m., but Pollard said after the way he played on Friday he knows he can take advantage of his opportunities, and the rest of the team knows how to play in the rain.

“It definitely gives me a little confidence because I know that I can go low out here,” he said. “The way the leaderboard is, with someone really low like that, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow and we always play well in the rain. Hopefully the weather works in our favor and I keep playing the way I did today.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Day two of the Iowa High School State Golf Tournament at Brown Deer Golf Course is set for a 9 a.m. shotgun start.

Iowa High School Boys State Golf Championship

At Coralville

Brown Deer Golf Club, par 71

Team Standings — 1. Waukee 289, 2. Pleasant Valley 296, 3. Johnston 302, 4. Cedar Falls 303, 5. Ames 304, 6. (tie) Dowling Catholic, Marshalltown 305, 8. (tie) Cedar Rapids Washington, Valley 308, 10. (tie) Cedar Rapids Xavier, Des Moines Roosevelt, Dubuque Wahlert 311.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Matthew Garside, Bettendorf, 65; 2. Griffin Parker, WAU, 68; 3. (tie) Nick Pittman, JHN, 69; Burke Pitz, DMR, 69; JD Pollard, MHS, 69; 6. Jack Roemer, PV, 70; 7. (tie) Parker Ardary, DOW, 71; Cooper Craiger, DMR, 71; Jack Dumas, PV, 71; Schuyler Warren, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 71.

WAUKEE (289) — Parker 68, Michael Vicente 72, Bennett Pedersen 74, Jackson Starr 75, Joshua Nichols 87, Charlie Steer 87.

PLEASANT VALLEY (296) — Roemer 70, Dumas 71, Lucas Wendel 75, Joseph Logan 80, Nathan Tillman 84, Lucas Wood 87.

JOHNSTON (302) — Pittman 69, Joe Paul 76, Jayce Palmer 78, Jarred Bowser 79, Nathan Petrak 81, Luke Kinney 86.

CEDAR FALLS (303) — Ben Bermel 72, Jack Moody 76, Trevor Heinen 77, Joe Dean 78, Luke Meyer 83, Kevin Yang 86.

AMES (304) — Sam Vertanen 74, Carter Clayberg 75, Connor Van Weelden 77, Noah Stenberg 78, Sam Balsley 84, Derek Peng 86.

DOWLING CATHOLIC (305) — Ardary 71, Will Yurgae 76, Jackson Yurgae 78, Jake Calhoun 80, Ben Freking 82, George Strawhecker 83.

MARSHALLTOWN (305) — Pollard 69, Grant Greazel 78, Cole Davis 78, Colin Schmit 80, Brent Johnson 81, Mason Reid 81.

CR WASHINGTON (308) — Nile Petersen 73, Connor Neighbors 75, Whitcomb Haefner 77, Kyle Neighbors 83, Joseph Tauber 88, Ben Skogman 91.

VALLEY (308) — Samuel Jacobs 72, John Boettcher 73, Jai Mukraj 78, Max Marshall 85, Alexander Johnson 86, Nate Miller 92.

CR XAVIER (311) — Nicholas Recker 74, Matthew Schmit 78, Michael Glavan 78, Max Henderson 81, Dan Bailey 82, Hunter Hartgrave 91.

DM ROOSEVELT (311) — Pitz 69, Craiger 71, Charlie Gaer 85, Owen O’Leary 86, Blane Bartholomew 90, Nicholas Yamamoto 96.

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (311) — Sam Ambrosy 73, Mitch Walz 77, Jack Doyle 77, Matt Becker 84, Benjamin Vaassen 84, Luke Schockemoehl 90.

INDIVIDUALS — Garside, Bettendorf, 65; Kyle Spence, Iowa City West, 72; Nick Opsahl, Sioux City North, 73; Brock Barnhart, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 74; Hunter Johnson, Ankeny, 76; Jax Stelzer, Western Dubuque, 76; Ian Johnston, Cedar Rapids Prairie, 77; Joseph Wickman, Mason City, 77; Jared Tjelmeland, Cedar Rapids Prairie, 78.