The day started out like any other for Ryan Bahr.
It ended with a bang.
The Bishop DuBourg junior golfer stopped by a gas station and picked up the breakfast of champions – a sleeve of doughnuts and a sticky bun. It was overcast and dreary as he made his way to the Norman K. Probstein Golf Course at Forest Park to take part in his third district golf tournament.
“I wasn’t all too concerned about getting out of districts,” Bahr, 17, said. “Districts is just a day to play a nice course and see what kind of score you post.”
DuBourg has many outstanding athletic traditions, boys golf, though, is not one of them. The district tournament is more often than not the official end to nearly every Cavaliers’ season. They just don’t crank out that kind of golfer.
That was until last Thursday.
On a soggy, crummy day, Bahr put together a rain-shortened nine holes for the DuBourg record books.
The 6-foot-1, 150-pound junior scored a 1-over-par 36, good enough to tie him for second in the district tournament and advance him to today’s Class 3 sectional tournament at Aberdeen Golf Club in Eureka.
Lutheran South also advanced to the sectional by taking second place as a team with a score of 157. Westminster won the District 3 title with a score of 151.
Also advancing as an individual was St. Mary’s Jonathan Magee.
Bahr is the first Cavalier in at least 10 years, maybe longer, to break through the district tournament.
And, despite his score, it wasn’t anywhere near easy for him to make the cut.
“He played the nine of his life,” said the Rev. Mike Lydon, DuBourg's coach. “We never get anybody beyond districts.”
Bahr said that he didn’t play his best round, but his score sure did look pretty. He kept putting himself in tough situations throughout the front nine only to make a shot here, a great save there to get out of trouble and put up a small number.
“I wasn’t hitting many fairways or greens in regulation,” Bahr said. “I got up and down. It all came together in the short game at the end.”
Bahr said he knocked in a 40-foot putt that even made him do a double take. He said there might have been a wee bit of luck to his round.
“I got a break,” he said.
The district tournament is supposed to be 18 holes. However, because the weather was such a mess and the district was already postponed the day before, it was decided that the tournament would be decided on the nine-hole scores.
Bahr and his group made the turn and found their next several holes to be abysmal. They were soaked to the bone and playing bogey golf. After a dynamite first nine, Bahr was OK with calling it a day because the conditions were so crummy.
“After I turned at the ninth hole the rain was really coming down,” Bahr said. “It was kind of sad it had to come to an end.”
By advancing out of districts Bahr now gets to take on a course, Aberdeen, that he’s never played before.
Long and strong, Aberdeen is a monster that can chew you up and spit you out if you’re not prepared.
“It’s a brutal course,” he said. “That’ll be a challenge.”
Bahr said he’s not worried about the course. It’s bigger than the courses he’s used to playing but there isn’t any pressure on him to perform. At a lot of places there is an expectation of success that can weigh someone down.
That’s not the case for Bahr. He’s made it this far so he’s going to enjoy the ride, wherever it takes him.
“I really don’t feel the pressure on the course day after day,” Bahr said. “You don’t go out there hoping to not let people down. It’s a chance to play a course I normally wouldn’t get to play.”
