Philomath High School’s foray into boys golf reaches a competitive starting point next week with a season-opening tournament at Mallard Creek Golf Course near Lebanon. A dozen students came out for the sport and first-time head coach Hunter Biviano over the past few weeks has been evaluating the possibilities of what he might have for a varsity lineup.
“We have about seven that will be competing on a regular basis for a varsity position,” said Biviano, adding that the rest are “just out for the sake of wanting to learn how to play golf to be able to play with friends and family once they graduate.”
The roster is senior-heavy with nine seniors — Elijah Bush, Emmitt Gaskey, Logan Matthews, Silas Pittman, Zack Powers, Hudson Raab, Jackson Rice, Caleb Russell and Ryder Zitlau. The program also includes juniors Cameron McLennan and Roman Robins, and sophomore Kayden Boynton.
“We have a lot of great athletes and I think that’s just a marker of Philomath in general,” Biviano said.
Five golfers make up a varsity team with the top four performances figuring into the team score. The first meet at Mallard Creek begins just before 9 a.m. Wednesday. Biviano said Rice appears to be the team’s No. 1 golfer heading into the season.
“I believe he played tennis the past couple of years but he decided to come over to the golf side and he’s showing a lot of potential to be one of the better players in the district,” Biviano said.
Beyond Rice, others competing for a top-five varsity position include Matthews, Raab, Bush, Pittman, Robins and Russell.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that will be really competitive and athletic and I think that is something that will hopefully translate well to the course — guys who know how to compete, how to find that focus to push themselves to get the best out of their game every time we go out there,” Biviano said.
Each week, the team plays a qualifying round to determine who will represent PHS in the tournament that follows.
“Most weeks, we spend rotating between different practice spots in Corvallis and at least once a week, we will get out and play nine holes, or 18 if the day allows, like on Fridays when we have early release and we can get out and play more holes,” Biviano said. “But we do qualifying rounds and that determines and tells me where people are at.”
Biviano said the golfers have played three or four rounds in recent weeks to give him some insight into their averages and where they’re at with the game. More knowledge will come as they play in tournaments and put in more practice time.
“We’ll have a couple of kids who will compete in JV tournaments,” Biviano said. “Right now, I think we have one or two JV tournaments scheduled. The biggest logistical issue is figuring out transportation to get all those kids and equipment to the course that we’re playing. But we will eventually like to have more JV competitions but that’s something that I’m finding at the 4A level is a little harder to come by.”
Not every 4A-level varsity tournament has a JV tournament as well.
“So we’ll try to create more opportunities for the guys who aren’t playing varsity to get out and experience a round — whether that’s through an official tournament against other schools or we do some inner-squad challenges just to get them out there and playing.”
Philomath will host a varsity tournament on April 22 at Tyrsting Tree in Corvallis.
“It’ll be a fun logistics challenge for myself with getting to figure out how to do that but I know that there’s great staff out there with Hogan Arey and all of them who will help me make sure that tournament goes over without a hitch,” Biviano said.
Philomath’s inaugural girls golf team features a first-time high school coach and seven student-athletes for a spring season that is about to get started. Seniors Kynlee Albin, Sophia Bauer, Ashleigh Brown, Reagan Chisholm and Anneka Steen, and juniors Shaylee May and Isabelle Muir all signed up to hit the links. Logan Martin is their head…
The district tournament is scheduled for May 12-13 at Tokatee Golf Club near McKenzie Bridge. The top three teams from Special District 2 will advance to the May 19-20 event, which is also at Tokatee. But individuals can also qualify if they finish high enough in the standings — even a sixth person from a state-qualifying team.
Biviano comes into the coaching position after two years as an assistant with Corvallis High’s golf program. He has a connection to the local high school through his ministry work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization with the area he covers including Philomath. In addition, he married into a family that has PHS graduates.
“It was something I was on the lookout for,” Biviano said. “I wanted to get into the head coaching side of things for golf. I have a passion for coaching and a passion for golf and it just seemed like a great opportunity.”
Biviano’s own background in golf includes one season of participation at South Salem High School before really becoming invested as a student of the game while in college.
“I think a huge aspect to any level of competition is understanding the sport itself,” he said. “So I just started doing a lot of educating on how to play golf, how to coach a swing and it’s something that started coming natural to me — being able to communicate different ways in which to play the game of golf and help people play it at a more effective rate.”
Beyond the physical aspect of the sport, golf is also largely a mental challenge.
“You have an opponent but for the most part, you’re playing against yourself,” Biviano said. “The biggest game is the one that’s played between your ears. I think that’s why I love it so much because it is a great equalizer.”