Blue Pony golf swings into the home stretch

It's only the middle of September. School isn't even a month old yet. And still, the 2018 Havre high golf season is coming down to the wire.

In just one week, the Blue Ponies will begin postseason play with the Central A Divisional Tournament, which will be held Sept. 21 at Prairie Farms Golf Course. But before the Ponies get to the postseason, they have 36 tough holes to play.

Today, Havre is in Billings to take on the Eaglerock Golf Course in Billings. The 18-hole tourney is the Billings Central Invitational, and it will feature several Eastern A schools, as well as all four schools from Billings.

On Friday, the Ponies turn their attention to the even more difficult Laurel Country Club for the Laurel Invitational. Many of the same teams that play today in Billings will also be in Laurel. And it will be a good experience for the Ponies, of head coach Walynn Burgess because Laurel is probably the most difficult course they'll play this season. In fact, Havre was to play Laurel in back-to-back weeks, with a combined East/Central A Divisional set there next week. However, the combined tourney didn't go through, so Havre will host the Central A, while Laurel will host the Eastern A.

And divisionals is what it's all about for the Ponies, because team titles and spots in the 2018 Class A state tournament will be on the line. So Havre's girls team, led by seniors Teagan Fee and Kinzee Peterson, and the Pony boys team, which has been strong under Caleb Chambliss, Josh Warp, Tyrel Kjersem and Nolan Lotton, will look to the next two days to prepare themselves for postseason play. The conditions are also expected to be a little difficult the next two days, and since those are the types of conditions that postseason golf in the fall can yield, Havre should gain even more valuable experience on its final road trip of the regular season.

The Blue Ponies play the Billings Central Invite today and the Laurel Invite Friday. The Central A Divisional is set for next Friday in Havre, and the Class A state tournament will be held Sept. 28-29 in Hamilton.