In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.
June 6, 1995
By Devlyn Brooks
Tom King, head coach of the Warroad girls golf team, is trying to establish a winning tradition for his team, while being in the shadow of more visible sports such as hockey, football and basketball. His daughter, Tammy, is trying to help him out.
She is a junior and just became the first girl golfer in Warroad history to qualify for the state meet.
Tammy King placed fifth in a field of 20 individuals at the Section 8 Golf Tournament Monday, May 29.
She said that in the last few weeks she has been turning in scores of about 95. This was five over what the girls who usually go to state shoot.
"I knew I had to take five off," she said. "I didn't have any pressure. I didn't think I had a chance."
King's chances soared after completing the front nine on the Bemidji course. "She really lit up on the front nine" said her coach who is her father. King finished the front nine with a score of 43. Only two other people in the tournament had lower scores on those nine holes.
"After I got a 43, then I got nervous," Tammy said.
She didn't have quite as much success on the back nine, only scoring a 47, leaving her with a 90 for the day. "She struggled a little more on the back nine," Coach King commented.
He also explained that traditionally a course's back nine holes are a little tougher than the front nine. "You usually expect to add an extra three strokes on the back nine," he said.
This accounts for part of the higher score on the second half of the course. There might be a couple of other possibilities also.
One might be that Tammy just doesn't like it when her coach, who is her father, watches her play. It turns out that on one of the back holes that Tammy was playing, her dad happened to bring out another coach who had said she wanted to see some of the girls playing.
Tammy ended up hitting her shot into the woods on the left of the fairway; it hit a tree; and careened off back onto the fairway. "I got lucky," Tammy said about her shot coming back onto the fairway. "When my dad came, I just got nervous." However, Tammy made an excellent second shot to recover.
"I told the other coach, 'Let's get out of here,'" Coach King said. "I knew I couldn't watch her take another shot like that. She gets nervous when I watch. Maybe it's because I'm her father too."
Another reason she might have added a couple of strokes to her back nine score was that she had trouble putting on the final hole.
"I saw her coming in on the 18th, and she looked nervous," Coach King said. "I think she just wanted to get it done."
Tammy's anxiety didn't end there. After she was finished with her game, she had to wait about an hour for the rest of the field to get done.
"I know she was going back to the (leader) board a lot," Coach King said.
Tammy and Coach King are optimistic about her chances in the state tournament. He said that he has heard from other coaches that the course where the state meet is held is very similar to the Bemidji course. This could be to Tammy's advantage because being familiar with a course helps a golfer out, said Coach King.
"She had never picked up a golf club until she was in seventh grade," Coach King said. "She has come a long way."
The state meet will be held Monday and Tuesday, June 5 and 6, at the St. Cloud Country Club.
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