Blue Pony golfers teeing off on a new season

The Havre High golf season is officially underway, and, it's on its way to Havre's Prairie Farms and Beaver Creek Golf Course.

The Blue Pony golf teams opened the new season Monday-Tuesday at the Great Falls Invitational, the first meet under new head coach Walynn Burgess. Now however, the Ponies get to play on their home turf.

Thursday morning, Havre will host its annual Havre Invitational, with a 9 a.m. shotgun start at Prairie Farms. And this particular Havre Invite will be special, as the Ponies play host to an expanded field. The 18-hole varsity tournament always includes Central A rivals Lewistown and Browning, but in recent years, the tourney has also expanded to include Class AA teams Great Falls High and CMR, and most recently, Class A powerhouse Laurel.

Thursday, however, the meet will once again grow. All of the aforementioned teams will be in attendance but, so too, will teams from Sidney and Hardin. So not only will the Havre Invite field grow yet again, as more than 90 varsity players should compete, but the Ponies will get to see more of the Eastern A teams and that's a good thing considering that, later this fall, the Central A will be combined with the Eastern A for the divisional tournament for the first time.

Havre also comes into Thursday's tourney with some experience under its belt. Though the Ponies started practicing just last Thursday, many varsity Blue Ponies have some rounds in tow after playing at both Meadowlark Country Club and Eagles Falls earlier this week in Great Falls.

At the Great Falls Invitational, HHS senior standout Teagan Fee led the way with rounds of 87 and 85 to finish in the top 10 of the girls tournament. It was a strong showing for Fee, especially considering the field is composed of all Class AA golfers. Fee is a two-time Class A All-State performer, and she started her senior season off very strong. Fellow senior Kinzee Peterson shot rounds of 112 and 119 to round out the scoring for the Pony girls.

On the boys side in Great Falls, Havre finished with a team score of 789, with Caleb Chambliss leading the way with a two-day 186. Nolan Lotton was second for Havre with a 198, while Josh Warp came in at 201, Tyrel Kjersem at 209 and Tavish McLean completed the Havre scoring with a 223.

The Ponies will return to action with Thursday's Havre Invitational, which runs all day at Prairie Farms Golf Course. The Ponies then head to the Belgrade Invitational Monday.