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Cougar golf defeats Eagles, moves to 7-0
North Putnam golf continued its hot start to the season Wednesday at Old Hickory, defeating South Putnam, 156-187, and moving its record to 7-0. The Eagles fell to 1-2.
Although the Cougars are undefeated, coach Kieth Bodnarick said they have not been playing to their potential for the last week, especially in their putting. Wednesday was a different story.
"It feels good (to stay undefeated). We haven't been playing well for the last week, so it feels good to fix that," Bodnarick said.
Conversely, the Eagles' main struggles Wednesday came on the greens.
"It was a rough night," coach Scott Ricke said, pointing out the greens were much slower than his team had expected.
"We could have done a better job adjusting to the greens, but we played a very strong North Putnam team. They're pretty deep and very consistent," he said.
Despite the spread of the match, Bodnarick was similarly complementary of Ricke's squad.
"South is much better than they played tonight. Coach Ricke is doing a good job," Bodnarick said.
For the Cougars, Eric Whitaker was medalist, shooting an even-par 36. J.J. Burns was also sub-40 with a 39. Jeremy Redman and Patrick Byrd rounded out the scoring with a 40 and 41, respectively. Austin Malayer also shot a 41.
For the Eagles, Tyler Newby was low man with a 45. Ben Anderson and Cory Welty each shot a 47. Trea Boyce was close behind with a 48.
"A lot of guys have different things to work on," Ricke said. "We need to take the things we've worked on in practice and apply them in the matches."
Ricke added it is early in the season, so his team has plenty of time to work its issues out between now and the county match. The Eagles hit the links again at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Rockville.
While the scores and the record are promising, Bodnarick still has things he wants to see his team work out. Chief among these is course management. In the last week, the Cougars have played some relatively short courses, and they have made some questionable decisions for those courses.
"Kids always want to hit as long as they can, and that's not always the best management," Bodnarick said.
For now, their focus turns to Saturday's Southmont Invitational at Turkey Run Golf Course. Both the competition and the course should provide a challenge.
"I wanted to see us play well going into the Southmont Invitational because there are going to be some real quality teams there," Bodnarick said.
With several top schools like Ben Davis and Park Tudor at Saturday's event, the coach said a top five finish would be good for his team.
Additionally, the course itself will make things tough.
"Turkey Run has been a course that's always given us fits," Bodnarick said.
For the evening, though, the Cougars played well and were happy about it.
"It's always nice to get an conference win and a county win," Bodnarick said.
At Old Hickory
North Putnam 156, South Putnam 187
South Putnam -- Tyler Newby 45, Ben Anderson 47, Cory Welty 47, Trea Boyce 48, Jeff Chadd 52, Andrew Whitman 57, Damon Robinson 58
North Putnam -- Eric Whitaker 36, J.J. Burns 39, Jeremy Redman 40, Patrick Byrd 41, Austin Malayer 41, Josh Mitchener 46, Kyle Smith 49, Seth Yondersaar 49, Darren Wiatt 50, Damon Clevenger 60
Next match -- South Putnam will travel to Rockville at 4:30 p.m. April 23.. North Putnam travels to Turkey Run Golf Course at 8 a.m. Saturday for the Southmont Invitational.