photo by: Photo courtesy Henry Thompson

Henry Thompson swings from the tee box during the Kansas Junior Amateur tournament in Garden City.

Henry Thompson hadn’t played the course at the Kansas Junior Amateur golf tournament before. Once he went through a practice round the day before, he felt good about his chances.

Thompson turned in a top-10 performance last week. He finished the three-day tournament -2, seventh among 113 golfers. He shot a 68 on the first day, a 72 on the second day and a 70 on the third day.

“My game has been feeling good for a while,” Thompson said. “It was about time I started scoring well and getting high up on the leaderboard.”

Tournaments like the Kansas Junior Amateur are what Thompson plays for. He loves competing against the best and challenging himself.

“It’s such a skilled tournament — I thought I played pretty good, and I still lost by eight shots,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s first day was the best, where he shot four under par. Thompson’s day started even hotter but tailed off after a couple of bogeys in some of the later holes. Having that success early in the tournament at a golf course he was unfamiliar with gave him confidence for the final two rounds. After finishing at par in the second round, Thompson scored a 70 on Thursday for the final round.

“It was a huge confidence boost,” Thompson said. “Like, if I can do it, I know I can do it again.”

Thompson was one of seven golfers who finished -2 in two of the three rounds, and he was one of eight golfers who didn’t finish a round above par.

The tournament came just a few weeks after Thompson and the Free State boys golf team placed eighth in the 6A state boys golf tournament. Thompson led the team by placing 13th overall with a 147 across the two-day tournament.

The high school season is somewhat of a warmup for the summer tournaments, as Thompson and the other boys have to “shake off some of the rust” from not playing in the winter. When it gets to the state tournament or the early summer tournaments, many golfers like Thompson are hitting their stride. Thompson is “in the flow of things” with the constant tournaments.

A few of the other members of the Free State boys golf team competed at the tournament. Cash Nelson finished +23 and tied for 63rd. His best round was the first, in which he shot a 76. AJ Kimzey shot 26 over and tied for 67th. Kimzey shot a 79 on the first day, which was his best round. Aiden Graff-Hannah was the fourth Firebird at the tournament, and he tied for 83rd while shooting a 79 on the first day.

For the next few months, Thompson will be out on the course six days a week. When he’s not competing in tournaments like the Kansas Junior Amateur, he’s practicing almost daily at the Lawrence Country Club. He’ll compete in about two tournaments a week.

The next big tournament that Thompson has his eyes on is the Kansas Amateur Championship, which starts on July 14 at Firekeeper Golf Course in Mayetta.

When it comes to preparing for big tournaments, Thompson tries to get an understanding of the course and what it’ll play like.

“I like to figure out if it’s a course I’ve played at — and I know what I need to do well around there — I’ll focus on whatever that is to get dialed in for the tournament,” Thompson said. “Really, it’s about sharpening all parts of my game.”

Thompson has to get a lot of his training in during the summer months when courses are open. Over winter, he and his Free State teammates are relegated to an indoor simulator at the Lawrence Country Club, which he can only rent for two hours a day and has to share with the general public. He and his teammates practice around three to four times a week during those months.

These long, golf-filled summer days make those short, cold winter days at the simulator worth it as he gets to spend his time playing the sport he loves.