Flathead’s Morris powering into state tournament
Flathead's Dylan Morris watches his drive off the second tee during the Crosstown Cup at Village Greens on Thursday, Sept. 5. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Thankful. That’s the feeling Flathead senior golfer Dylan Morris — who already has one win at home this season in the Kalispell Invite — has heading into his final state tournament in his hometown.
“The Kalispell Invite always means a lot to me to be able to play at home,” Morris said. “But especially for my senior year, state being here is a big way to end my high school career off.
“It definitely means a lot to have most of my family here and it's nice for them to be able to come down and just watch. Whatever happens these next two days, I’m going to be thankful for what has happened.”
That family helped Morris get into golf from the age of five.
“Both of my grandmas who paid for tournaments for me, they paid for trips, they paid for a lot of clubs that I want,” Morris said.
Flathead coach Roy Antley calls Morris the golf equivalent of a gym rat, who is always out practicing on the course.
“He has always been tremendously talented, and he has always been a hard worker,” Antley said.
Antley says he has seen Morris make strides in his game mentally in his senior season.
“He is still hard on himself, but I think most really good golfers are hard on themselves,” Antley said. “But you have to balance that, recognizing that this is a hard game and this is an unforgiving game, and it can be cruel and fickle.”
Antley noted that Morris leads the team by example more than being vocal.
“He’s a lot of fun to be around,” Antley said. “He’s not a rah-rah guy, but he leads with that quiet style where kids want to be good, like him.”
Morris recognizes those teammates also for helping him when he has a rough day on the course.
“You know that everyone is there encouraging and helping,” Morris said. “Because even though golf is an individual sport, you compete as a team and it’s nice to have a team there to support you.”
Morris makes his third appearance at the state tournament Thursday and Friday at Northern Pines Golf Club. As a sophomore he tied for 14th at State, and tied for 24th as a junior in Billings a year ago.
Both days golfers tee off at 10 a.m.