After weather issues last week, the Mitchell Invitational girls' golf meet was postponed from Friday until today and Mitchell High School coach Mark Horan was concerned that teams would drop out.
"I hoped that we would get half the teams to still come," he said.
The tournament that originally expected 15 teams to participate only lost one, Brandon Valley, and will go on with 14 teams competing.
Horan said he was relieved that more teams didn't back out with the schedule change.
"You put a lot of work into preparing a tournament and you'd hate to waste that," he said. "You'd also hate to waste giving the team a chance to compete with some of the top golfers around the state."
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Teams that tee off at 10:30 a.m. today include Mitchell, Aberdeen Central, Brookings, Huron, Pierre, Rapid City Central, Rapid City Stevens, Sioux Falls Lincoln, Sioux Falls O'Gorman, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Sioux Falls Washington, Sturgis, Watertown and Yankton.
Horan said he invites all Class AA teams and -- prior to Brandon Valley's withdrawal due to the scheduling chance -- Douglas was the only school to turn down the invitation.
"It's almost like a mini state tournament," Horan said. "Almost everybody that's going to be at the state tournament will be here. It's a chance to measure yourself against the other double-A players."
Horan said his team is coming into the tournament with a lot of confidence.
Kristin Sabers is coming off her best performance of the season with a round of 77 Monday at the Warrior Invitational. That score tied her for first place heading into the clubhouse, but she was unable to win the playoff.
"She's up there with the best of them," Horan said about Sabers' level of play recently.
Horan said the team set a few goals for the tournament.
"I'm hoping to shoot our best score of the year," he said. "It's home cooking, so we should play better."
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With a home event, the Kernels will take advantage and allow many golfers a chance to get some experience. Fourteen golfers will tee off for Mitchell today.
"We're giving a lot of girls experience," Horan said. "It's just to get them some experience for the future."
