The Sprague senior shoots 73; West Salem's O'Sullivan is one back
By Bill Poehler • Statesman Journal
May 6, 2008

CORVALLIS — Corey Flannigan and Casey O'Sullivan often play golf together.

On a sunny, calm Monday afternon, the pairing was bad news for everyone else at the Central Valley Conference district boys golf tournament.

Flannigan, a senior from Sprague High School, leads the tournament after the first day of the meet with a 1-over par 73 at Trysting Tree Golf Course. O'Sullivan, a sophomore from West Salem, is one stroke back at 74.

"He's a good friend of mine," said Flannigan, who placed third at the meet last year. "We play together every day so it's like nothing.

"He is good comeptition. He beats me most of the time, but I got him today."

Flannigan's Sprague team closely trails defending CVC champion Redmond in the team race, 314 to 318 after the first day.

What should be of concern to the rest of the golfers is that Flannigan and O'Sullivan tee off in the same group at 1:15 p.m. today for the second and final round of the tournament.

"We're really good friends, and he's a good ballstriker," said O'Sullivan, whose sister Ashley leads the girls district meet. "I like playing with people who hit the ball good.

"It's a little more relaxing. It's pretty nice."

O'Sullivan and Flannigan were tied for the lead after the first nine holes after they each shot a par 36 on the front, but Flannigan hit a birdie on the No. 10 hole before hitting two bogies in the final eight holes. O'Sullivan hit two bogies on the back side.

"It was good, but it could have been a lot better," Flannigan said. "I left a lot of easy putts out there, let a lot of birdie putts pass me up, you know; missed a bunch of them."

With the weather warm and dry for an extended period of time for the first time in months, the greens were hard and fast, making it difficult for golfers to get a proper read on them.

"It's surprisingly different," O'Sullivan said. "Usually, every time I've played it, it's been actually pretty easy, but the greens are rolling; they're rolling really fast. There's stuff out there you can have, you can make."

Redmond's Landon Moore is one shot back of O'Sullivan in third after shooting a 75.

South Salem's Levi Morgan also shot a 36 on the front nine holes and is in fourth place after shooting 76.

Redmond's Joe Heisler is fifth at 77, McNary's Brent Williams and West Salem's Brent Scheeler are tied for sixth at 78 and Sprague's Joe Arnold is eighth with a 79.

Last year's district medalist, Casey Low of Redmond, shot an 82 and is in a tie for 11th.

The district meet finishes today with the first group teeing off at noon, and the final group at 1:15 p.m.

The top two teams and three individuals from non-qualifying teams advance to the state meet, May 12-13 also at Trysting Tree.

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6701