Elijah Block has played a lot of golf, but until last Tuesday he had not been in a coed tournament. Block and Rachael Danielson played in the Iowa High School Coed State Tournament in Ames at the Coldwater Golf Lynx Course and did quite well. The Greene County Rams were sixth among 46 teams in the larger of the two classes. The combined enrollments of Greene County and Paton-Churdan came up four students above the 1A limit. Facing the Dowling Catholic, Ankeny Centennial, Waukee, Iowa City West teams, and others from much larger schools, the Greene County duo shot 36-40=76.

Block talked about the experience with Raccoon Valley Radio and said, “It was a lot more fun than I was expecting. The different thing for me was I’m not the most straight off the tee. I can be pretty long compared to most people, but I’m definitely not the straightest. So there’s pressure because you’re think you need to put the tee shot in the fairway for the other person. That’s a lot different than having the pressure on yourself because you’re thinking you can bounce back from a bogey or a lost tee shot. Now, you’re think the other person needs you to put it in the fairway.”

He also played in Junior PGA Tour events last Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. At Cedar Falls on the Pheasant Ridge Course Monday and on Tuesday at Jester Park, he was second individually in both events, shooting 74 and 73, respectively. “I had never played the Cedar Falls course before, hadn’t played it once. Went and shot a 74, so I was happy to do that. I’ve played Jester Park a million times and was glad to shoot a decent score there.” He shot 79 in every 18 hole event the Rams played in 2017, and while that is certainly not a bad score, he’s gaining confidence from the recent tournament success. “I know that I can shoot that low and win the tournament, so it makes it harder on yourself when you shoot 79.”

Block will have many more tournament events this summer.