Hannibal’s Thomas gives himself chance for bookend state golf titles with steady play

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Quinn Thomas’ day could have gone sideways from the start.

The Hannibal senior golfer began Monday’s first round of the Class 4 state championships at Dalhousie Golf Club on the back nine and promptly took a double bogey on the par-4 10th hole.

“I blocked one right into the water,” Thomas said. “I thought I hit a good wedge, but I was quite a bit long. Then I three-putted. Everything was wrong on the first hole.”

But the memories of how things went when he won the state championship as a freshman kept him from feeling overly irate or defeated.

“My freshman year I had three double bogeys, so there was no reason just to go home,” Thomas said.

A good swing off the tee on the par-3 11th hole changed everything. Thomas parred the hole, made the turn at 1-over and played front nine in 2-under, finishing with a 1-under 71 that has him in a three-way tie for the lead going into the final 18 holes.

“That kind of set my mood,” Thomas said of the 11th hold. “I was kind of like, ‘I can do this. Just play steady.’”

Thomas did that by finding ways to get-and-down and making tough shots look simple.

That was especially true on the par-3 eighth hole when his tee shot left him on the edge of the bunker. Because of the slope he was on, Thomas was standing with his feet about 2 feet below the ball, and he was forced to grip the club on the metal part of the shaft. Still, he got up-and-down for par.

“It was one of the greatest up-and-downs I had,” Thomas said.

He came back on his finishing hole and made a birdie on the par-4 ninth.

“Everything was perfect,” he said. “I hit a 3-wood and was about 40 yards short of the hole. I stuck my approach to about 8 feet and made the putt. It was about the most perfect hole you could think of. That was probably my favorite hole.”

Thomas will tee it at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday alongside Poplar Bluff’s Landon Barks and Rolla’s Jonathan Jordan, who both shot 1-under 71. The threesome is two strokes clear of the rest of the field.

Poplar Bluff has four golfers currently in the top 10 and leads the team standings by 18 strokes after posting a 295. Rolla is in second at 313 and Carl Junction is third at 322.