Cole Davis

GRIMES — The Marshalltown boys’ golf team fell by 10 strokes in a dual meet against Waukee to open the season on Thursday at the Beaver Creek Golf Course.

“With three guys playing their first varsity meet on a course they’d never seen before, we knew there was the potential for some growing pains early on,” Marshalltown head coach Lucas Johnson said.

The Bobcats dropped the season-opener 316-326, but despite the loss, Cole Davis shot a 1-over-par 73 to come away with the win after finishing runner-up a season ago.

“Cole Davis was steady all day and made a great par save from the woods on 18 to preserve the one-shot win,” Johnson said.

Grant Greazel shared runner-up, carding a 74 after carding a 35 on the first nine holes while Waukee’s Charlie Andrews had back-to-back 37s for the tie. Rounding out the scoring four for the Bobcats were Colin Schmidt, who had an 86, and Owen Chaloupek, who finished in with a 93.

“Grant Greazel got off to a great start and didn’t miss a shot until the ninth where he made bogey,” Johnson said. “We knew we’d need to play well against a team the caliber of Waukee and we got exactly what we hoped for from the top of our lineup. Among our four counting scores, we had seven double bogeys and two triples.”

For Waukee, Josh Nichols hit a 76 and Jack Starr, Charlie Steer and Payton Sandfort each hit an 83 and Jack Utsler posted an 85 on the bottom end of the Warriors’ lineup.

Drake Polley and Luke Sponsler hit 95 and 106, respectively, for the bottom end of the Bobcat lineup.

“Learning to minimize the damage from a poor shot is going to be key for our guys newer to the varsity ranks,” Johnson said. I also thought we lacked sharpness with our short game at times and that we be a focus in practice in the coming days.”

The Bobcats return to action with the Linn-Mar Tournament on Monday at 11 a.m. at Hunters Ridge Golf Course in Marion.

Waukee 316, Marshalltown 326

At Grimes

Beaver Creek Golf Club, par 72

Medalist — Cole Davis, MHS, 73; Runners-up — Charlie Andrews, WAU, 74, and Grant Greazel, MHS, 74.

WAUKEE (316) — Andrews 74, Josh Nichols 76, Jack Starr 83, Charlie Steer 83, Payton Sandfort 83, Jack Utsler 85.

MARSHALLTOWN (326) — Davis 73, Greazel 74, Colin Schmit 86, Owen Chaloupek 93, Drake Polley 95, Luke Sponsler 106.