Fort Scott High School's golf team begins the season with a league tournament Thursday at Independence. The Tigers return four members of last year's Southeast Kansas League champion squad, including one who finished in the top 10 at Regionals.

As for what this year may bring, well, head coach Ken Klassen isn't one to make bold predictions, preferring to see what happens Thursday before making an evaluation of his team and what they will face in league competition this season.

"We ought to be able to compete," Klassen said Tuesday afternoon. "We'll have a lot better idea about them after we see some of the other schools. I think it could be pretty open-ended. I expect Parsons, Chanute, Pittsburg, Coffeyville and Independence all to be good teams."

Klassen oversees a group of 23 golfers, including returning varsity players Luke Geneva, a senior, Chris Brown and Cole Murrin, both juniors, and Dylan Renfro, a sophomore. Brown was fifth in the SEK last season while Murrin was sixth. Brown also finished seventh at the Regional tournament.

Paul Norris, a sophomore, will be the fifth member of the six-man varsity team. Sophomore Tanner Beckham will go to Independence with the varsity Thursday. But Zach Culbertson, Tyler Cook, Lee Culbertson, Andy Gant and Andrew Defenbaugh are also on a list of players who could see varsity time.

"The kids did very well last year until we got to State," Klassen said. "And I think that was mostly nerves. Hopefully, they'll do well and gain some confidence on Thursday.

"Consistency will be a key. I know we have the athletes to perform well. But to be able to sustain that over the course of the season will be the thing."

NOTES -- Joe Ida, the SEK individual champion last season, has been performing well on the varsity team at Kansas State University. In the Wildcats' most-recent outing, at the Ron Moore Invitational at Goodyear, Ariz. March 18-20, Ida shot 73-74-77--224 to finish at eight over par. Although he was 71st individually, his performance helped Kansas State tie for third place with a team score of 850, 14 under par….

Independence is the first of the four Southeast Kansas League designated tournaments. For those who don't know how that works, the scores of each golfer and each school from the four league tournaments are compiled. The best total score from the four tourneys determines the league and team champions.

The other SEK tournaments will be at Pittsburg April 10, Parsons, hosted by Labette County, on April 12, and Chanute April 30….

Fort Scott's home tournament will be the last one of the regular season, May 10 at the Fort Scott Country Club….

Although the junior varsity schedule listed has only three tournaments, more may be added as the season proceeds….

VARSITY

Bold -- Southeast Kansas League designated tournaments.

Thursday…............at Independence, 1

April 5..................................….at Iola, 3

April 10…......................at Pittsburg, 3

April 12…Labette County at Parsons, 3

April 16….........................at Columbus, 1

April 23…

...at Iola-Buck Quincy Inv., 8:30 a.m.

April 30….......................at Chanute, 1

May 9........................….at Prairie View, 3

May 10.........................….FORT SCOTT, 3

May 14…

...Class 4A Regional Tournament, TBA

May 21…..Class 4A State Tournament, TBA

JUNIOR VARISTY

More meets may be added on short notice.

April 3….....................at Coffeyville, 3:30

April 26...............…at Anderson County, 1

May 7.....................….at Independence, 3