RIDGEFIELD — There is no understating the importance of experience when playing golf.
Take Union senior Keith Lobis for example.
After 27 holes of pleasant fall weather at the 4A district tournament, things took a turn for the worse at Tri-Mountain Golf Course when a chilly, steady rain began to fall.
But Lobis was ready, wearing long pants, long sleeves and warm winter cap. His playing partner, Connor Shira of Camas, took a different wardrobe approach.
“Connor was like ‘Man, this sucks!’ ” Lobis said of the rain. “And I was like ‘Uh, yeah, you’re wearing shorts.’ ”
While the tournament may have ended in rain, it didn’t end the reign of Lobis and the Titans.
Lobis followed up Monday’s 1-under 71 with another 71 on Tuesday to capture his second consecutive 4A district individual championship with a 142, three shots over Skyview’s Tyler Jones.
“I wasn’t playing great coming into this, but I was able to work through some stuff, make a couple of putts today and just hit the ball a lot straighter than I have been. But it feels really good to come back and repeat.”
And the Union team has been stuck on repeat, winning its eighth consecutive district team title, beating out Skyview 212-164.
“We may not be the Camas football team, but we’re pretty proud of this run of success we’ve had,” Union coach Gary Mills said.
The Titans picked up three of the four automatic berths to next spring’s state tournament with Dylan Henry (146) placing third and Reece Boyce (147) taking fourth.
“We got three going to straight to state, and we got one more going on to bi-district, so hopefully we can get four going through to state,” Lobis said. “So it will be fun again this year.”
The rain couldn’t come early enough for Jones, who turned in a 3-under 33 on the back nine to finish second.
“The weather turned it around for me,” Jones said. “It helped me. … I started making some putts, my irons were dialed-in. On 13, I was four feet away from making an eagle, and I was just making all my putts. Chipping and putting just seemed easier, and my swing got smoother. It was awesome. I was loving it.”
Earning berths to next May’s bi-district tournament were Camas’ Owen Huntington (150) and Shira (154), Battle Ground’s Anthony Tobias (153) and Garrhet Ballard (156), Skyview’s Anthony Chae (153) and Union’s Gabe Rodgers (157).
