Mustangs sweep medalist and team honors

By Neil H. Devlin, Mullen Sports Information Director
Mario Dino shoots even-par 72 to lead Mullen to a 2-stroke victory in Class 4A Region 3 held at Quail Dunes in Fort Morgan; next up is a team showing at state Oct. 5-6.
 
FORT MORGAN -- Mission: Accomplished.

It wasn’t how they wanted to do it, they didn’t play nearly as well as they thought they could have played and they felt as if they left a lot of shots on the course.

No matter. Mullen’s Mustangs won Class 4A Region 3 on Tuesday at Quail Dunes Golf Course and Mario Dino finished as individual medalist, so why complain or worry?

The Mustangs will take four players as a team to the Colorado 4A tournament to be held at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs Oct. 5-6.

Having the short memory of an affective major-league relief pitcher is probably a good idea.
“it was one of those things where you don’t have to win, but you need to get in,” Mustangs head coach Jerry Koehler said. “And we did.”

Mullen was led by senior Mario Dino, who turned in an even-par 72 over the 6,600-yard layout. He turned in a tidy 35-37 with four birdies and he, too, felt he could have gone lower.

“I had a few rough holes, but overall it was good. I qualified,” Dino said. “I was under par there for a while, but I had a rough stretch of holes that brought me back to even. But I’m pleased.”

He made the turn at 1-under and birdied the 342-yard, par-4 No. 10 to get to 2-under, but a double-bogey-6 on No. 12 and a bogey-4 on the short, 130-yard No. 16 (he also birdied the 352-yard, par-4 13th) brought him back to par.

“It’s about qualifying,” he said.

Johnson took that stance, too, and he had his hands full from the outset. He made a scrambling par to open, then went double bogey, bogey in going out in an unusual 40. He strung together birdies over Nos. 13-15 before finishing bogey, bogey, double bogey (including an out-of-bounds fairway wood) for 78, a tie for 10th.

Concerning his difficult start, Johnson said, “I couldn’t get any birdies … I just kind of pulled it back with those three birdies, but it was just a tough day.

“I’m not really too mad about it. I’ve got two more rounds (at state) and I’ll just be getting ready for that.”

Brady, with his first postseason round, scored 80. He started bogey, bogey, turned in a birdie on No. 3 and headed home at 38. But his 42 on the back side also left him unsatisfied.

 “It wasn’t my best and I could have done a lot better,” he said. “I missed a lot of putts. I had, like four three-putts. But I got in.”

Brady tied for 15th.

Hawes, arguably Mullen’s most-interesting story, managed only six pars and had no birdies for an 86 that tied him for 30th.

“A pretty up-and-down round,” he said.

Still, he was within 10 shots of Brady that made him a fourth qualifier for the Mustangs and this is an 11th-grader  who was on junior varsity all season before winning a qualifying round to compete in the regional.

If anyone has motivation and urgency to help Mullen golf, it may be him.

“I definitely want to post a score for the team, that would be the goal,” he said, “and I have the tools to do that.”

Overall, Koehler said “Mario had a great round. He has been solid in that area all year long. Rhett had a tough day today and Andrew had some putting issues.”

With an unusual two weeks before state, which originally was to be held at one of the Eisenhower Courses at the Air Force Academy, Koehler said “we’ll let them get back to school, or whatever you want to call school now, and let that kind of shake out and make sure everybody’s good academically and have some practices starting next week.

“Maybe a round or two (at the state site), maybe Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, something like that … it’s a bigger (time) lapse than we’re used to and we have to keep engaged. And there are (no more tournaments before state), so we have to create some of our own.”

Mullen finished at 230, 14-over. The newer Riverdale Ridge was two shots back at 232 and the region’s second qualifier as a team.
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