Ilwaco, Kukula take titles at Hudson golf tournament

RIDGEFIELD — While the Class 4A and 3A golfers from Southwest Washington anticipate hosting state tournaments, the 2A and 1A golfers will hit the road for the Tacoma area come spring time.

Before they do that, they are showing who is boss in Southwest Washington.

Class 1A Ilwaco on Tuesday won the team title — again — at the Jeff Hudson Invitational, formerly known as the Thunder Invitational, with a score of 310. Ryan Kukula won the tournament in a playoff over Nick Huff of 2A Hockinson. The two shot even-par 72s on the Tri-Mountain course before Kukula won with a par on the first playoff hole.

“It’s always fun to get the individual win, but we’re always looking for the team title first,” Kukula said.

The Fishermen are accustomed to succes. Kukula won the 1A state individual title and the Fishermen took the state title last spring.

“All they do is fish and golf in Ilwaco,” joked Union coach Gary Mills.

His Titans finished second at 314.

Hockinson, Camas, and Mountain View tied for third at 319.

For Huff, he was thrilled with his round, even if he was disappointed with the playoff.

“It was nice to play a solid round of golf. I’ve had a horrific summer,” he said. “It was nice to shoot even.”

He said he went back to look for keys for when he was playing better, and he remembered what he used to do.

“I went out to have fun and I trusted it,” Huff said. “That’s what I did today.”

Ridgefield’s Cory Smetzler, Battle Ground’s Chad Hall, Union’s Eddie Abellar, Iwaco’s Clark Wilson, and Camas’ Brian Humphreys all tied for third with 75s.