NEWTON — A tough start, on the toughest hole in one of the toughest golf courses in the state, spelled early trouble for Xander Sellman Monday.
The Iola High sophomore — making his debut at the Class 4A State Golf Tourament — was set to tee off at Sand Creek Station’s notorious 10th hole, a 589-yard monster with a narrow fairway, a water hazard on one side, out-of-bound markers on the other, and deep bunkers near the green.
And then there were the nerves.
“When I came up to that tee box, it was probably the most pressure I’d ever felt,” he admitted.
Even worse, Sellman’s first two shots landed out of bounds, thus incurring penalty strokes.
By the time he sank his putt, Sellman had carded an 11 on the par-5.
He was hardly alone. Nobody else in his foursome scored better than an eight on the hole.
Jeremy Sellman, IHS golf coach and Xander’s father, had a bit of light-hearted encouragement as his son approached the next tee box.
“You got that out of the way,” Coach Sellman said. “You don’t have to worry about embarrassment now.”
The youngster listened, and parred the next hole.
By then, the pressure had dissipated, and Sellman played well through the front nine, before fatigue set in on the latter half of the 18-hole course.
Sellman’s 93 on the day placed him in a tie for 46th, and with several key lessons he plans to take with him through the rest of his high school career.
“I wasn’t too happy about it, but I wasn’t mad,” he said. “I know I didn’t play my best.”
“He played the golf I knew he was capable of playing,” Coach Sellman said. “I knew going in that Xander wasn’t going to post a 72. I thought he was capable of scoring in the low 80s. You takes away that ‘blow-up’ hole and he was 5-over-par through the front nine.
“We were where we wanted to be, minus the blow-up holes.”
As Iola’s lone contingent to qualify for state, Sellman enjoyed the experience.
“I got to meet a lot of new people,” he said. “I do want to go back.”
