Phillips ends career with 7th-place finish

NEWTON — New London senior Clayton Phillips gave it a nice run in the Class 1A boys state golf meet at Newton over the weekend. Phillips shot 164 in the two-day event to tie for seventh-place overall.

Phillips finished Thursday’s opening round in fourth place, shooting a 76 to put himself two shots off of the leaders. He shot a 36 on the front nine, including a birdie on the Par-4 first hole and went 40 on the back nine.

Day 2 was tougher on the Tiger senior. He had three triple bogeys and two double bogeys after having none of either on Day 1. He did two more birdies, which came on the Par-3 sixth hole, and the Par-5 eighth.

Phillips finished the tournament tied with Edgewood-Colesburg’s Kody Hoeger and Brett Klusman of Council Bluffs St. Albert. Lucas Gunderson of Harris-Lake Park won the tournament, finishing just seven strokes above par, at 149.

Phillips ended the tournament in the top five of four categories. He finished tied for fourth in birdies (3), pars (19) and bogeys (17), while finishing fourth alone with a +6 total on the front nine.

It was the second time on the medal stand for Phillips, who tied for seventh in his freshman campaign in 2018. Phillips narrowly missed the 2019 state tournament, and the 2020 meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with his seventh-place finish at state, Phillips ends his senior year with an individual Southeast Iowa Super Conference championship, as well as a second-place finish in the district meet.