BRAINERD -- Madelyn Holmstrom enjoys playing at Headwaters Golf Club in Park Rapids. She showed why Friday, May 9, when the Brainerd Warriors senior shot a first-place 77 to win the individual title at the Presection 8-3A meet. Holmstrom went out with a 1-over 37 thanks to a birdie on hole two. A string of six straight bogies didn’t deter her as she rallied with a birdie four on the par-5 15th hole to finish with a 40 on the back nine and her 77. “It’s one of my favorite courses,” Holmstrom said. “It’s really pretty and it’s not super long, which is nice. It’s fun to go up and down that course.” Holmstrom won by a stroke over four girls tied for second and led Brainerd to third place with a 344. “I had quite a bit of confidence, but I try to keep it contained because sometimes when you play with too much confidence it can lead to not good things,” Holmstrom said. “My thing was to try to keep getting bogeys instead of anything big. I think that really helped me out with keeping my round lower.” Holmstrom said she was comfortable the entire round. She tried her best to maintain a level head throughout the round. “She didn’t let her bad shots dictate what she was going for,” Warrior head coach Karissa Haugen said. “She was focused on that next shot and had a positive mindset on it. She didn’t get into too much trouble, which is always good on a golf course. She stepped it up and was hitting shots where she wanted to hit them and then made her putts. Overall, she just had a good round.” The five-year varsity player should gain a lot of confidence from the win come postseason, as the Presection includes teams and players she’ll be competing against during the section tournament later this season. “I think this is a huge confidence boost for her,” Haugen said. “She’s been right there within a few strokes the whole season. I think that win just verifies that all of that work she’s been putting into her game over the past several years was worth it and it’s coming together. At this point of the year, it’s just a huge confidence boost for her and the team, too.” Holmstrom opened her week with a sixth-place 81 in a Central Lakes Conference meet at Eagle Creek Golf Course Tuesday, May 6, in Willmar. She had two distinct nines. After starting on hole 9 with a par, Holmstrom shot a 1-under 35 on the back nine, highlighted by birdies on the par-4 12th and par-4 18th. “My approach shots on the back nine were, honestly, really nice and they gave me a lot of opportunities to get birdies, which was super nice,” Holmstrom said. “Then I was putting really well.” Her second nine, Eagle Creek’s front, wasn’t as kind as she shot a 46 with a birdie on the fourth hole. “The front nine, I don’t really know what happened,” Holmstrom said. “I just couldn’t put myself in any positions. I was getting some really unlucky bounces out of bounds and into the water. It was just not my holes.” Holmstrom struggled with a 90 May 1 at Madden’s Pine Beach East. She carded two birdies, but suffered through two big holes on the front nine. She finished 21st with an 87 April 30 at Alexandria Golf Club. She opened the season with a 10th-place 83 April 11 at Crosswoods Golf Course. She peppered her scorecard with two birdies. “She practices really well,” Haugen said. “She takes lessons with Ryan Sharpe and that's helped her through the years. She also stays late after practice. She wants to make it to state this year. She hasn’t been there yet, so I think that’s a big motivating factor for her. The biggest thing with her is that she makes sure the team stays positive throughout the whole round.” During the Grand Rapids Best Ball April 22 at Pokegama Golf Course, Holmstrom won her first individual title with a 79. She opened on hole 12 and found herself 6-over after six holes. She found her groove on the front with a 1-over 37 to finish at 7-over and win by four strokes. Her win helped Brainerd to the team win with a 341. “My goals for this season were to have fun and keep a level head,” Holmstrom said. “I didn’t want to get too frustrated with anything. In the end, it is just a game. My goals were to come in and have a good season with the team and not really worry about individually what I was doing. “I’m practicing a lot and just getting a lot of repetition with putting and my wedge shots because I know that’s what is going to save me at sections if I’m not hitting the ball well. I’m just practicing a lot.” State is a huge goal for Holmstrom. Last year during the Section 8-3A Tournament, she placed 21st with two rounds of 90 for 180. That was at Greystone. This year, the section tournament will be at Headwaters. “It’s a huge advantage,” Holmstrom said. “I’ve played Headwaters like 10 or more times and I can just see the holes in my mind. That’s a huge advantage compared to the other girls who haven’t played that course before.”
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