Vilseck's Finneas Horgan watches his shot off the tee during the No. 10 hole on Sept. 28, 2023, at Woodlawn Golf Course on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Horgan enters the DODEA European golf championships this week at Woodlawn Golf Course as the top seed with the highest overall average during the season. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Like any high school freshman, Finneas Horgan has faced a series of adjustments this year.

Ten years after he stayed at his grandparents’ home near Vilseck during his father’s deployment to Afghanistan, Horgan moved back to the area with his family. But getting used to living in Germany again hasn’t been his only challenge.

Instead, it’s been clubs he’s had to use during his first season of high school golf. Horgan is more accustomed to cavity back irons, but he’s currently playing with his father’s blade clubs.

“I was hoping I could get my old clubs back before Euros, but it’s fine,” Horgan said. “I’ve gotten pretty good at using his clubs.”

Based on his scores throughout the season, pretty good is one way to describe it. It also raises questions as to how good he could be doing with his usual clubs.

Horgan enters the DODEA European golf championships Thursday and Friday at Woodlawn Golf Course on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, as the top seed out of 26 athletes. He’s posted the highest average throughout Europe with 34.3 points.

DODEA-Europe uses a Modified Stableford scoring format, where – unlike in more traditional golf scoring - players receive more points for the least number of strokes it takes them to put the ball in each hole.

Vilseck coach Telesfor Martinez said Horgan doesn’t appear to be focusing on wearing the favorite’s mantle this week.

“I think right now he’s not grasping the full severity of where he’s at with Euros and his placement,” Martinez said. “He’s just having fun.”

That mentality has shown in his results. Horgan has eclipsed 30 points in three of his four events this fall, including a 38 last at Rheinblick Golf Course in Wiesbaden, the previous host of the European championships.

The Vilseck golfer’s worst score, a 25, came at the scene of this year’s tournament just two weeks ago. The Falcons arrived for that round just five minutes before tee time, giving Horgan and his teammates no time even to warm up before hitting the links.

“I learned that I need to warm up a bit,” Horgan said. “If I have some warm-ups and know that the greens are faster, I should be getting a better score.”

Horgan is more than aware he will be squaring off against more than the course this week.

His groupmates from the round at Ramstein on Sept. 28, Wiesbaden senior Brian Grieve and Ramstein sophomore Tyler Hacker, come into the week with the second- and third-highest averages at 32.6 and 32 points, respectively. At the trio’s previous grouping, Grieve recorded a 30, while Hacker totaled his season’s best mark of 35.

Hanging out and watching their games for 18 holes, Horgan understands he’s in for a battle.

“Brian and Tyler are really good,” Horgan said of his competitors. “They’ve played the course a couple more times than me, so I feel like they can use that to their advantage.”

On the girls’ side, Kaiserslautern junior Asia Andrews is the favorite of the nine-athlete field, entering the tournament with an average of 28.3 points. The defending champion is expected to contend for the title with her Raiders teammate – and 2021 champ – Reigen Pezel, as well as Naples’ Morgan Johnson, who holds the second-highest average at 20.3.