While the rest of his classmates stuck around to celebrate their graduation Sunday, senior Griffin Frey piled into a car with his family to travel to Cape Girardeau. Frey will be participating in the two-day state golf tournament at Dalhousie Golf Club starting Monday morning.
Frey qualified for his second state tournament with a fifth-place finish at districts in Blue Springs.
“I felt really confident about my game going into the district tournament,” Frey said. “There a few bumps throughout the day but I pushed through those and didn’t let them get in my head, so I was able to finish strong on the last few holes.”
Frey’s district performance was indicative of how well he’s been playing as the season wore on. His scores have continued to improve as he’s become more confident.
“I think that I have been getting more comfortable with the tournaments and just overall got more comfortable with my swing. So being confident with my swing along with my putting stroke is what I feel has made the biggest difference,” Frey said.
This will be Frey’s second trip to the state golf tournament. He qualified three years ago as a freshman, then lost his sophomore year to the COVID cancellations and missed the cut his junior year. His last state tournament was at Silo Ridge in Bolivar, a course with which he was familiar. But he’s never played Dalhousie, and with the long drive to Cape Girardeau and graduation Sunday, he wasn’t able to play a practice round, so he has researched the course online.
“I am a lot more prepared for what state is going to look like this year because it is my second time going. I have had a lot of time and practice preparing for this,” he said. “My goal for this tournament is to do well, but mainly I want to just have a good time and enjoy my last golf tournament I will play for Republic High School.”